Generation Extraordinaire: Old Version
by NatSama
Summary: Don't underestimate your virusridden computer. One teleported three girls into another world via YouTube. New version will be up shortly! Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Rewrite. Some of the long-winded sentences shock me. Anyway, although you might not like the first chapter, please read the whole of it. It gets better. Promise.

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Generation Extraordinaire – Chapter 1

"No, Nat. You click the brush tool before you do anything." Emma said, narrowing her eyes at the obvious amateurish skill of her friend at Photoshop.

"Right." Nat clicked the brush tool before proceeding to do her amazingly simple 'work of art'. Eventually, Emma got so bored that she turned to her other computer which _still _hadn't stopped humming even after she threw various pieces of her homework at it.

"Just gonna watch a Naruto episode."

"Which one? Raw?"

"Might as well. The one where Kaka-kun features." An audible sigh was heard from the other end of the room.

"Good luck with that." Nat fiddled a bit more with the brush tool while Emma started to watch the fourth episode of Naruto. Soon the time came when the survival test started and everyone started to hide. Well, that was what was supposed to happen, were it not for the fact that Emma's computer died again and displayed an HTTP 404 Error. She swore. And refreshed. And swore. And refreshed. Nothing she did brought any results; and Emma's computer screen abruptly turned into static.

"Oh, COME ON…" she bent down and started to look at her computer for any obvious presence of viruses while steadying the screen with her other hand. Suddenly, Emma's head flicked upwards at the strange sensation crawling up her arm. "What the fu-----"

Silence would have reigned the room, were it not for the fact that the two girls' other friend, Miranda had come back from the loo and seen Emma being sucked into the computer screen. Silently and stupidly, she made her way to the screen, getting herself sucked in as well. Nat was blissfully oblivious, still fiddling with the pen tool.

"Hey, Emma, the line's kinda----" she had a strange feeling, after which she swivelled round to face the monitor, which was still emitting static. "Right…Mira should have been back too…oh dear." She heard Emma's mother run across the corridor to the room, searching for her daughter and her two friends. Time was of the urgency. She thus took to bashing the screen to try and let the static to release the two girls but to no avail. She slumped in her computer chair, sighing, before she got sucked in as well. Just before all of her submerged in the static she managed to grab her still shut backpack.

* * *

Emma floated through the air, a vacant expression on her face. Unfortunately, her quiet surroundings were marred by Naruto's scream, he having been inflicted with the Thousand Years of Death, kindly given by Kakashi. Emma looked to her left where the agonising face of Naruto was zooming full speed ahead towards her. Suddenly, realisation hit her.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Emma screamed.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Naruto screamed.

They collided with each other and both fell in the pond. Naruto, eyes still wide was staring at Emma just as much as Emma was staring back at him. _Of all the weird dreams I've had…this one's copped it…_ They both surfaced, then said at the same time, "Who the HELL are YOU?!" pointing while treading water with some difficulty. Meanwhile, Mira landed on Sasuke, and her not having such a delayed reaction, immediately emitted a loud squeal of joy. Sasuke and Mira rolled on to the grass, he protesting very loudly while Mira was (playfully) smothering him. As if that wasn't enough, an immense 'CRASH' sound was heard before loud shouting noises enveloped the area.

Kakashi took his turn to speak. "Person over there, identify yourself and come out with Sakura."

Sakura momentarily forgot that she was meant to be hidden and stormed out of the bushes while Nat nonchalantly walked out, holding her head and groaning. "Oh god, I feel like I've fallen through three trees and landed on a kunoichi…" Nat said, sighing, her other hand firmly around the strap of her bag. Kakashi repeated himself, stating that the bell test was momentarily over and would the three girls that fell from the sky assemble here right now.

They did so, gawping at the surroundings; this was clearly the genin training grounds in Konoha; a place where neither of them were a minute ago.

Before all three of them could say their names, Nat, being the half-Japanese person yanked them by the hair and hissed that they needed to pick Japanese names. Emma silently shrugged while Mira shook her head despairingly. Nat thought for a moment before replying to Kakashi.

"The one with wacky brown hair and vacant expression is…Minamo. Minamo Taima." She started conjuring up names in thin air. "The one with light long blond hair is Mira…Senju." This was purely aggravation for Mira, who hated all the Hokages. "And I am—" Minamo interjected.

"The cynical one with short black hair is Kyoko Toyama." Minamo was using both of Nat's middle names. However, Naruto looked at them more weirdly before.

"So…the 'Minamo' person is the one with brown hair…but she has black hair…and Mira I would say has more golden hair? And---"

"HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!" Minamo screamed. She was not pointing at her long messy locks which had magically turned black, but was looking at Kyoko, whose short black hair was gradually turning white. "NAT! I MEAN KIKI!" Kyoko slapped her head and turned her head towards the pond.

"JESUS CHRIST!"

"Back to the point, girls. Where did you come from?" Kakashi said, not closing his porn book.

"Um…Lon---"

"My computer." Emma said before Mira could issue a very stupid response. "We sorta live in another world and…I have no idea how we got here though…"

"So basically, you have no idea how you can get back."

All three answered at the same time. "Yeah."

Kakashi shuffled awkwardly. "You do realise you can't be in Konoha and you really do have to get back to your world, for many more reasons than one."

Mira burst out of desperation. "Please! Can't we stay here for a little while? We could learn to be ninjas, and if we do find out how to get back, we could-"

Kyoko closed her eyes and folded her arms. "Unlikely, dude. You just hugged Sasuke. And we just ruined the story. Plus, no one would recognise us. Cos we look like punks." She pointed at her white hair.

"But we ar—" Minamo whined.

"No we're not! …hold on…" Kyoko opened her onyx eyes again, intent glowing in them which made the three genin recoil. "We are of use to the Sandaime."

"Are we?" Minamo said, spoiling the tension.

Kakashi sighed. "Although I'm impressed that you know some of what goes on in our world, I don't think that the Sandaime would need any use of three normal girls that have just fallen from the sky."

"We are all the use to him. We can tell the future. We know when he, Gekkou Hayate, the present Kazekage and Orochimaru will die." Kyoko smirked.

Kakashi finally closed his book. The genin looked confused. "And HOW would you be in possession of such dreadful information?"

Mira caught on. "Your world is scripted in a…book, no scroll…in our world. It's a source of entertainment."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes, in concentration of what to do while the genin started staring at the three girls suspiciously. "I'll have to take you to the Hokage---"

"YOSHAAAAAA!" Minamo and Mira yelled, punching a fist in the air.

"…where we will discuss what to do with you three. Meanwhile, my genin team here will still have to do missions, so you will have to discuss living arrangements yourself. Consider this as a test to prove yourself mentally that you are up to being a ninja."

* * *

Team 7 stood in the Sandaime's office, with the three girls at the front. He had his head fixed intently at them, studying them.

Minamo was facing the other wall, pouting; Mira was doing the same; Kyoko was the only one who would even talk to him.

"So how long do you plan on staying here?" the Hokage asked, humour lighting his eyes at the story that Kyoko had told him.

"Uh—"

"FOR LIFE, DEAR!" Mira burst. There was a lengthy pause.

"Right," the Hokage began, quite undeterred by the outburst. "I'm guessing that you have to stay with these four…? For the time being?" His gaze turned to Team 7, who suddenly looked like that they wanted to be in any other place but there.

The three boys immediately turned to Sakura. Sakura tried to keep the three crazy girls out of her house and place of sanity by protesting that she had no space at all since 'her cousins were visiting'.

The Sandaime thus turned to the others and said that he knew that they all had space for at least one. Kakashi gladly took on the challenge whereas Naruto and Sasuke tried to get out. Unfortunately, Minamo and Kyoko were trying to run away as well and they collided.

* * *

Sasuke decided to get this over with. "Who is the most mature out of all of you?"

On an instinctive notion, Kyoko put up her hand while Mira and Minamo pointed to her at the same time.

"I'll let you stay then. Those two look dangerous." Naruto swore having missed his chance. Kyoko, having a delayed reaction, waved her hand, refusing the offer.

"Nah, I'll stay with a girl or something. Maybe Hinata…?" She then remembered the tense Hyuuga relationship. "Not Ino, Not Sakur…crap."

Minamo lit up, realising her luck, and pushed Kyoko over to Sasuke and Mira over to Naruto while she clung on to Kakashi, trying to get free. In vain.

Kakashi finally got Minamo off him and closed her mouth.

"Only for a week, remember? See what you can do to be useful."

"Sasuke, don't run away. Kakashi would get you. And for your information Sakura, _Kyo_-chan won't do anything to Sasuke. At all." Minamo suddenly blurted out.

The team stared at her. No one had said anything. Kyoko naturally broke the silence by thwacking Minamo.

"And that, Nyamo, is called compulsive insanity." Kyoko mumbled, herself awed by the sudden outburst.

"No, _Kyo_-chan, I think that this is something out of the ordinary."

"What, you?" Someone in the crowd snickered.

"I personally think you have a bloodline limit." Kakashi drawled, his hitai-ate already uncovering his Sharingan.

Minamo opened her mouth slightly. "It's…real…" she whispered. She reached out her fingers to touch it, but Kakashi's abrupt pointing at her made her stop.

"There is abnormal chakra gathering around your eyes. There are many signs of those chakra around the room."

At this abnormal piece of information, Sasuke and Sakura lunged back from Minamo like she was a beast from hell. Minamo calmly did a peace sign at them.

Mira suddenly stepped forward, beaming and pointing at something on the ground. "III haaave ooone twoooo!" she trilled, running around in circles.

Minamo and Kyoko bent down to see where she was pointing.

A flower bud was squeezing out of a cracked tile, just bursting to open.

**A/N: Constructive criticism please. Friends are not helpful in this case…**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This rewriting business will probably extend to all the chapters. It is now HALF TERM (cue tumultuous applause) so hopefully I'll have bucketloads of time. Hm, not likely is it.

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"So, what IS this bloodline limit that I have?" Minamo asked Kakashi as they and her friends walked along the street.

"I believe that your doujutsu is quite rare; it didn't come from your world, did it?"

"um…no…"

"Well, then it's new. Unless there was a very ancient clan." Kakashi's eye curled upwards, indicating he was smiling to this newcomer.

"That…that's…AWESOME!" Minamo punched the air ferociously making Kyoko twitch a bit. It seemed that she was the only one without a bloodline limit; Mira had already demonstrated her ability in Earth and Mokuton jutsus to the humour of Kakashi and for Nyamo to get something to control the mind?

She kicked a stone and jammed her hands further into her pockets. She was so preoccupied that she almost didn't hear Kakashi's announcement.

"Right, you three. As you seem so eager to be ninjas, I shall give you the standard Genin acception test." Kakashi said.

"Ya mean the Bell Test?" Mira said, looking up, a glint in her eye. Since they all knew the secret, there was almost no meaning to it.

"Yes. As you seem to know the secret of it, I am going to make the rules slightly different," Kakashi pulled out of his pocket three bells, then gestured the three girls into the training ground. "You all have to get a bell from me. There should be no teamwork involved this time. You each have to get one, or you have to go back to your world. No excuses." Kyoko dropped her bag in a rare expression of shock.

Each of the three girls' eyes hardened a bit as they got into a defensive pose except Mira. "Can't we get weapons of some sort? I mean, we're at a severe disadvantage to you, Sharingan or not. We don't know how to control Chakra, and---"

"Yes you do," Kakashi replied quickly. "If you feel an inner warmth inside you, manoeuvre it to different parts of your body and make the seals, you should be able to carry out any jutsu you can remember in this world from your scrolls."

Kakashi took out his porn book again and closed his eyes. "Even so, I can sympathise to your 'disadvantage'. Tell you what. I won't use my Sharingan at all."

"FAT LOT OF DIFFERENCE THAT MAKE---"

Kakashi turned around so his back was facing them and said, "Time starts now. 5 seconds later, I shall turn around. If you haven't sufficiently hidden to a place within at least a metre's radius, I will assume you can't control your chakra properly and thus will fail the test."

Minamo whispered furiously. "Why the hell was he my favourite character in the first place…"

"5."

"SHIT!"

Mira felt the inner warmth instantly as she zoned into the centre of her body. She tried to control it, to move it to her legs so she could ninja-jump over to the bushes that were a couple of metres away. Unfortunately, her concentration snapped after about two seconds and she found it gathering in her arms. _Seals…Seals…_ _RIGHT! Tiger…Boar…Ox…Dog…Snake…Yeah, what jutsu does that make anyway?_

Suddenly Mira disappeared, letting loose a bunch of clouds. In her place was a log. Mira, a couple of metres away, widened her eyes. _That's normal..._

It was Kyoko's turn. She had a harder time finding the inner warmth, but when she found it, it was very easy for her to navigate it to her feet. She leapt away, hiding amidst the bushes, nearer Kakashi. Minamo suffered a bit more difficulty controlling it, but she also managed to leap away, a second before Kakashi nonchalantly turned around. His eye swept the immediate surroundings, catching sight of the log and the leaves just settling on the ground where Minamo and Kyoko used to be. He smiled. _That's good…_ He planned. _If they really know about this world, then they pass the test. If they don't, then…_he heard a bush rustle.

_That's their problem.

* * *

_

Naruto literally burst into the Hokage's office.

"Well, Naruto, it is rare for you to see me so suddenly…what's the matter?"

"What's up with them? Why did you decide to let them take the bell test? They don't even know how to carry out ninjutsu dattebayo!"

The Hokage looked down so that only his mouth was showing and smiled, and Naruto stepped back. He was always surprised by what the Hokage said at times like this, and this was probably another one of these times.

"It's not the bell test _you_ took, Naruto. This test was designed especially for those who already knew the workings of the Bell Test. They are given rules to split up and have to work on their own to get a bell each."

"That's weird. Kakashi-sensei is ALWAYS going on about teamwork! He wouldn't have designed a test like this." The Hokage smiled a bit more. "What's up with---"

His eyes widened. He then started to grin as well.

The Hokage finally looked up. "What's more important than the rules, Naruto?"

"Teamwork!"

* * *

Kakashi leapt for the bush that was rustling, forming two Kage Bunshins to seek out the other two. He thrust a kunai into the leaves, cutting many branches to find out who the intruder it was.

It was Mira.

They both jumped backwards a foot or two and surveyed each other. After a moment or two, Kakashi lunged again and swung his right fist, targeting her head. Mira stopped his fist with some difficulty, then brought it down viciously, causing Kakashi to stagger. Mira snatched for the bell, but by that time Kakashi had straightened, causing Mira's fist to plunge into his belly. He fell backwards a few feet, and when he got up, he saw Mira carry out a classic _Kamae_ stance. Her right hand was flat and facing her opponent, as was her right foot, whereas her left hand was a right-angle's distance away from it, as was her left foot. Mira grinned rabidly.

"Now you see? I do Aikido, unlike them!"

Kakashi's Kage-Bunshin popped.

* * *

Kyoko instantly leapt back when Kakashi jumped to the bush that she was hiding behind. Unfortunately, she lost her footing and while she was getting up, the jounin had already put her in a genjutsu. Kyoko staggered and supported herself against the tree. Kakashi's genjutsu was eating away at her stamina and she felt her eyes droop.

Or so it seemed.

Kyoko's eyes regained their strength and her hand was almost blurred as she threw something at Kakashi.

His eyes widened. _Thorns?! _The thorns reached their desired target in what was visible of his face. Kyoko narrowed her eyes while smirking evilly.

"I prepare beforehand, unlike them." His bunshin popped.

* * *

Minamo jumped back repeatedly as Kakashi's earth spikes jutted out of the ground, threatening to pierce her. Suddenly, one succeeded to pierce her foot, making her scream and look at her opponent with an angry glint in her eye.

_Now!_

"FOR NARNIA!" Mira screamed as she and Kyoko leapt out from the trees and held Kakashi down; Mira had also manipulated her Earth kekkei genkai by making an underground vine tie him to the ground. Minamo's bunshin burst and the real her walked calmly, took the three bells and gave one each to Kyoko and Mira, who in turn grinned. Kakashi smiled as well as Mira's vine relented and sank into the ground.

"I'm missing something, aren't I?"

Minamo grinned and clenched her fist with the bell in. "While we were walking down the street, I found that I could keep mind contact with the other two; this was maintained by my bloodline limit."

"And how did you (he pointed at Kyoko) reach my face when you haven't had any weapons training---"

"Darts." Kyoko replied briskly.

"…But then how did you know when both of them were finished with me?"

"We had keywords; when we were all sure that we had defeated your bunshins, we said our strengths, after which we said?"

"Unlike Them." Mira trilled, carrying out a peace sign.

Kyoko interjected. "Your ruse to break our teamwork was quite sloppy for three people who know their world from back to front." She smirked again.

Kakashi sighed. Teamwork between girls was always something hard to beat. "Right, you three. You have proven that you are physically able to become a ninja. Now prove that skill mentally. Earn enough money to get a home for each of you."

Minamo hung her head. "Easier said than done."

Mira echoed her beliefs by saying, "Even if we do enough missions it wouldn't pay the rent for more than two of us…"

However, Kyoko's eyes glinted with sneakiness. "No worries there…" she fingered her backpack. She smiled. Kakashi widened his eyes.

This was not good.

**A/N: 2 down…HOW many to go. Now you've got a rough idea of the characters and everything.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: By the way, 'Ojamashimasu' is an extremely necessary thing to say when entering as a guest at someone's house. To not say it is almost taboo. But of course, some people just don't care…

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Kakashi and Minamo parted ways with Mira and Kyoko, who waved and went off to find their 'roommates', who would be more than shocked that the three girls passed the Bell Test. Minamo, soon after being alone, started fidgeting, mainly with her fingers. Kakashi noticed this and peered down, a bit worried. Suddenly, almost the unthinkable happened. Minamo's hand abruptly shot out from beneath her other hand and tried to pull down his mask. Unfortunately, Kakashi turned his head, making her slap him.

There was a deathly silence. Minamo backed away, sweat pouring down from her face. She thought she would miss, but to _slap_ him?! Then Kakashi cocked her head, and started chuckling. He rubbed his cheek and indicated through his door. Minamo hesitantly entered, while smiling.

_This is gonna be fun…

* * *

_

"Ojamashimasu…" Kyoko muttered as she kicked her sandal off.

"Right. Stay away from me, and we'll get through the week. Fine?"

"Absolutely." Kyoko went to the bathroom. There was a muffled gasp, and then a scream.

"WOAH?! THIS IS THE MOST LUXURIOUS BATHROOM IN THE WORLD?! I HAVEN'T SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS IN MY LIFE!"

"That's why it's mine." Sasuke muttered, poking his head around the door, where Kyoko was examining the ceiling.

"Stands to reason. Seeing as this is the Uchiha complex, there is supposed to be a guest bedroom somewhere, right?"

"…Down the corridor, to the right."

"That wasn't so hard now, was it?" Kyoko walked down the corridor with her backpack, and then entered the guest room. There was one fact that Sasuke had kindly overlooked.

The dust.

"DUDE, SASUKE!" Kyoko wheezed. "Have you even HEARD of cleaning?!"

"No one talks to me like that!"

"You have no idea what goes on in my world, do you?"

"I don't think I want to know."

"Good." Kyoko started to open the screen doors, searching for a futon. She finally found one and walked back to Sasuke's room.

"How did you find that?"

"By common sense, Duck-butt."

There was a deathly silence. "WHAT. Did you just call me?"

"Never mind." Kyoko sat down on the futon, rummaged in her backpack, then brought out her pencil case and her A4 drawing pad.

Sasuke stared at her for a little while, then bent down to see what she was drawing. She was in fact, drawing Sakura. It was rather good, making Sasuke's eyes widen.

"You draw?"

"Better than you." Kyoko's eyes didn't leave the paper. After five minutes, she tore off the page and started on a new one.

"Just ignore me. Everything will be easier," Kyoko then muttered under her breath, "Until tonight." She smirked.

* * *

"Bed, Bathroom, Kitchen, Door." Naruto pointed in random directions to direct Mira hopelessly through his apartment.

There was a pause before Mira replied with, "Ceiling, Floorboard, Lamp, Baka." With the last word, Mira directly pointed at Naruto, making his vein pop and try to lunge at her, were it not for the fact that Mira had already commanded one of her trusty vines to keep Naruto on the floor. She went to the bathroom and borrowed a T-shirt and trousers from Naruto and then jumped into Naruto's bed.

"Urm, that's _my_ bed." Naruto muttered, staring warily at the occupant.

"Until now." Mira muttered. She promptly fell asleep.

Naruto growled.

* * *

Sasuke, after feeling a bit strange, woke up. He swivelled over to Kyoko's futon, where everything was left tidily.

Kyoko was gone.

Sasuke leapt out of bed and ran down to the guest bedroom, thinking that she had suddenly taken a liking to the dust. After taking a few moments to cough, he heard something that he thought he wouldn't hear in his life.

He heard himself singing.

Sasuke ran all the way downstairs and out towards the front garden. He roared in anger.

* * *

Kyoko had her iPod speakers playing a Bleach song that Sasuke's voice actor sung. She was also selling many of her drawings, some of which were in two piles; the pile to her right was significantly higher.

This was because she had drawn lemons, limes, and anything you could think of that could have impaired your career. And reputation.

Of course, millions of girls throughout Konoha were lining up to purchase recordings of it. And photocopies of the drawings.

"Step right up, step right up." She then heard a faint shouting from the other end of the garden. It was Sasuke, bellowing curses at her. She turned up the music, turned to her many customers, and said, "Everybody! The real Sasuke has turned up and is actually singing the song! Look, everyone, the real Sasuke Uchiha shows himself to be…dancing in time to the music?!"

Indeed, Sasuke was futilely making threatening motions; his bellows couldn't be heard because of the loud music.

"Yomichini ukannda suigintou no hikari…"

"You BASTARD! ...YOU OBSCENE BASTARD!"

Kyoko was trying to stifle down her own laughter while saying, "And is the true Uchiha heir trying to raise propaganda? Or is this for …personal…reasons?" She put one finger on her mouth in question, pretending to be confused. She suddenly saw rays of light coming from the hills in the distance.

"…And it is now DAWN, ladies and gentlemen! If you want to visit my humble stall again, come to the Uchiha complex at midnight, Thank you, all!"

Sasuke approached her while Kyoko tidied up the stall. His head was bent down in anger so he didn't realise that Kyoko had gone back inside.

"Damn her..."

* * *

Kyoko was at the hospital reading some leaflets. She didn't see Kakashi coming up beside her, and when she did realise, she dropped the leaflets in shock.

"Um…Why are you here?" Kyoko asked.

"To talk to you."

"…Right then." They both walked off to sit on one of the hospital benches.

Kakashi began the conversation. "You caught on quicker than I thought you would. You do realise that a very long time ago, in about Nidaime's reign, there was a prestigious family called Toyama. You know that?"

"…It's the same in my world, but—"

"They were killed off by a missing-nin from Konoha."

Kyoko was about to say a rival clan of samurais, but stopped herself. She then smiled a bit. "My distant family founded a hospital, which is why I---"

"The Toyamas were famous for being excellent healers. They also were famous for their bloodline limit."

There was a pause, before Kyoko jumped.

"I HAVE A BLOODLINE LIMIT?! WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!" Her eyes were white and her mouth was agape in joy.

"Remember the bell test? Well, I knew that Minamo could keep mind contact with you; she can send three forms of mind waves; she has of yet discovered two. One is a vibe sort of wave; it makes the opponent feel whatever the vibe commands. It can be very debilitating in battle if used rightly. Two can speak into the mind; this was demonstrated earlier. Three is the actual reading of the mind; this she can't do on you. I saw this with my Sharingan."

Kyoko raised her eyebrow. "So what you're saying is…?"

Kakashi shrugged. "That's the only clue I'm going to give you, you know."

Kyoko slammed the hospital bench. "…Damn…"

"Oh well, good luck with training to be a medical ninja. I'm sure you'll do well."

Kyoko didn't reply as Kakashi exited the hospital. She then raised her head, her mind made up, and walked through the door to the right of the reception area.

* * *

A few days later.

Crunch.

A kusari gama dug into a tree for the 27th time that day. Minamo was throwing it and Mira was maintaining the tree. Both were practising their skills, one with her bloodline limit and one with her new trademark weapon. Both had raised enough money to buy new clothes; Minamo a T-Shirt with a fluffy miniskirt bearing the Evanescence logo – her legs were covered in bandages up to her outrageously sized combat boots. She also had her hitai-ate on her head. Mira, however, chose a tank top with fishnets on the collarbone and stomach area and having a four-way-slit skirt with fishnet shorts until her knees. Her hitai-ate was also on her forehead.

"Hi, girls---" Kakashi began to say.

Crunch.

"Um, hello?" Kakashi muttered, stepping out into the clearing.

"OH! Hi, Kakashi sensei!" Minamo yelled, forcibly taking out her sickle from the tree, it being sufficiently scarred. Mira wiped a bead of sweat on her face.

"YONESS!" She waved.

"Yes, well, Team 7 and I have received a mission that you are welcome to come along on. It is a C-rank, but we would have got a D-rank one if it were not for Naruto. Our client says he's welcome to take in more ninjas and this is also an opportunity to raise money for your upcoming homes."

"Not needed." A voice came from behind Kakashi. Kyoko came striding out, holding a bunch of ryo notes looking substantially thick. She was wearing a slit dress held in by a sash, with the Toyama clan symbol of a flower with swords sticking out of it. She wore trousers with a small gap letting in fishnets until the sandals. She wore her hitai-ate on her neck. She ran her thumb down the substantial amount of notes, roughly divided it into three then threw the bundles to Mira and Minamo, who caught it easily.

"Who knew that blackmail along with merchandise could bring so much fruit?" Kyoko sneered.

Minamo grinned, and told her of the upcoming mission.

"We're in." Minamo cried.

**A/N: Wave Country, here we come.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: GRAAAAGH! -flail- I lost my goddamn USB key! AGAIN! So I have to rewrite this chapter which I had almost finished! NUUUUUUU! By the way, you have been very encouraging to me, my sole reviewer, so much so that I GOT A NEW ONE! –mutter- cost 11 quid… but anyway!**

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

"OH YEAH! LET'S GO!" Naruto yelled, throwing his arms in the air beside the Konoha gate whilst Tazuna looked at him bemusedly. The three girls were also there. Kyoko already had her hands in her pockets while the other two had their hands on their hips. An apt description of each of their characters.

When the Demon Brothers came and 'sliced up' Kakashi, Kyoko immediately started protecting Tazuna along with Sakura, throwing a few senbon along the way. Mira and Sasuke had the advantage, she immobilising them with her trusty vines while Sasuke broke the chain between them. After a few minutes, the missing-nin Zabuza appeared on his meat-cleaver (**A/N: OH NO**) looking all murderous. Kakashi then revealed his Sharingan, provoking awe from everyone in the immediate surroundings, especially Minamo.

"It's…real…creepy…AND GODDAMN COOL!" Minamo punched the air. Zabuza, having somehow not heard the commotion jumped gracefully on the water.

"Kirigakure no jutsu…" The surrounding area turned misty. As you would expect.

Team 7 surrounded Tazuna while Kyoko and Mira formed a sort of outer wall, all holding kunai (Kyoko holding senbon). Minamo stepped forward.

"Go." Kakashi muttered while making hand seals.

"Yes SIR!" shouted Minamo. She, in turn, made a few hand seals before activating her bloodline limit. Her normally clear purple eyes suddenly gained an pupil.

_MAHENGAN! _She gained additional sight through all genjutsu in a 15-metre radius. After a few moments, she suddenly wheeled around.

"BEHIND YOU!" However, Kakashi was already there with a kunai, spearing the Water Bunshin to tiny pieces. Mira and Kyoko had the sense to get back while the rest of Team 7 looked on in awe. Meanwhile, the real Zabuza hid in the bushes, looking on at his Bunshin getting trapped by Kakashi.

_Kakashi__…the three brats and the three…two?!_

"Looking for someone?" a cynical voice drawled. Zabuza turned, his eyes widening. Kyoko was behind him, two fingers digging in a vital pressure point on his neck. It guaranteed an instant kill. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a Water Bunshin again. Kyoko made a small hissing noise with her mouth. She had just seen the real Zabuza just imprison Kakashi in the Water Prison.

_So obvious…damn…Let's get back…_ She pulled back the bushes with her hands and was about to step out of the bushes to join her team mates when she felt someone grasp her neck rather firmly. Her eyes widened and she struggled to turn.

"Looking for someone?" Zabuza drawled, in an imitation of his previous captor. Kyoko dropped to the floor roughly. He instead stepped out of the undergrowth and narrowly avoided being hit by a sudden spear of wood coming out of a tree. Mira had seen him. Unfortunately, she didn't see his Kage Bunshin coming from behind. She flumped on the ground.

Zabuza turned his head to look at Minamo. She was furiously trying to find the real body with her bloodline limit, she already figuring out the bunshins.

"Too late, idiot." Minamo's eyes widened.

As Minamo's body slammed on the ground, Kakashi shouted his astonishment. It was just their luck that Naruto and Sasuke were already in the middle of executing their (pretty good) plan and couldn't do anything to stop one of Zabuza's henchmen taking the three girls somewhere where the mist ended.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo – A week later

A rough hand punched Minamo's chest, sending her backwards into the cell wall. She opened one eye to see her captor with his face uncomfortably close to hers.

"If you tell us what we want to know, then you can be free. Along with the others. You just have to do what we tell you to." He muttered, his sour breath engulfing Minamo's nostrils. While she coughed, she sneaked a glance to the other cells. Mira was having much the same treatment, except it was partly worse for her. Her captor had a cigarette addiction.

The only cell which only had one person in was Kyoko's cell. She was huddled up in the corner, deprived of her senbon pouches. She was thoroughly miserable. She got a few widened eyes at the logo on her slit dress, but when found out that she couldn't do much apart from basic taijutsu without her senbon pouches, they had dropped her on the floor and left her. She could hear what the interrogation was all about.

"News travels fast, pretty…You have to tell us all you can see in the future, or someone will have a pretty painful neck by the time this is over…" a muffled voice came from next door.

"IT'S NOTHING THAT CONCERNS YO---"

A quiet 'thump' could be heard. Kyoko clenched her fist. This had happened every day for the past week.

-flashback-

Kyoko rifled through the library, searching for anything to do with the Toyama Family. She finally found a substantially thick book. She skimmed the introduction, then widened her eyes. _Such a powerful bloodline limit?!_ Her eyes sunk. She would never be able to do that. Good her chakra control may be, but…

-end flashback-

_But…I'm not strong enough…_ Kyoko clenched her fist. She hated people who said that sort of thing. Then again, those people were mainly virtual. She then heard another snippet from next door.

"Ah, shit, she's fallen down. Again. Oi, Gatou, there's time to interrogate her tomorrow, right?

"Yes. If you manage to keep them here, the Konoha ninjas won't survive with Zabuza and that goddamn boy, and even if they do, they'll never be able to extend their mission to release those brats. You guys can come out now." A sour voice came from the other corridor.

"YES SIR!" the two men came out and securely locked the cells.

"Oh, and how is…she…doing?" Kyoko heard Gatou's leather shoes pace along the corridor to the cell next to her.

"No change, sir. She doesn't seem to move, but it's better not to go in. It burns like hell. And we've run out of water."

"Hmph. No matter. You are dismissed."

As the footsteps faded away, Kyoko turned to staring at the other cell next to her. She then stood up. She staggered a bit, her eyes sunken. She then resumed the training that she had tried to do the past week in the cell. She placed her hands a centimetre away from the wall next to her.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Naruto was pacing about, clearly disgruntled. All the people present knew what exactly he was angry about.

Kakashi said his theory that everyone had heard a million times.

"I hurt Zabuza sufficiently for him not to do anything for at least a week. He'll probably take them and have a last battle with us. He's not the sort of person to give up his mission. Nor is Gatou."

At the mention of his name, Tazuna twitched as he realised something. Sakura noticed.

"What, Tazuna-san?" she said worriedly.

"…Gatou, 3 years ago, invaded the Hidden Mist Village prison. He now holds it along with his henchmen. It's likely that he took them there."

Naruto jumped. "WHERE IS THAT, BELIEVE IT?"

Sasuke growled, himself very uneasy about the situation. "Shut up, dobe. Kakashi is still immobilised from his Sharingan and we can do nothing but the mission we've been set."

Kakashi lowered his eyes to the ground.

"All we can do is wait."

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Kyoko fell down, exhausted from chakra loss. She had been trying to open her tenketsus in her hands so she could release a constant stream of chakra, but she had always been losing too much.

_One more try…_ She then thought of a tactic that everyone around her had given to her to help complete tasks.

_Think of the person you hate most…_ She thought of trying to punch Gatou, like a civilised person, but then her thoughts wandered to Sasuke.

_It's not normal that you could be a wall, but…_ She frowned.

_What. The HELL?!_

The wall blasted open while the ceiling started caving in.

**A/N: Well. If you read CloodSama's fanfics, then it's blatantly obvious what Kiki-chan's bloodline limit is…anyway…OMG BELL!**ehHe's


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: yeah…sorry…bell means my school bell from now on, k? Yeah. Not exactly a cliffhanger last chapter, but who cares. …Not me, anyway…Oh, and just to tell you guys who actually read this including Kaguya Yumiasai, Exams (oh no) are week after next and fervent revision begins next week! And I don't think revision proctors (ie mum) will not let me have as much time on the beloved computer. Ah well.**

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

As the dust from the debris cleared, Kyoko caught sight of a woman huddled up in the far corner of the cell, staring incredulously at once was a wall. Her clothes looked like she'd been in them for years and her untamed long black hair and her black eyes made her look like a formidable person. Unfortunately, before Kyoko could get a closer look at her, she finally gave in to chakra exhaustion and she was sleeping before she hit the floor. The woman stared blankly at her rescuer, then, after a momentary delayed reaction, stood up then walked into Kyoko's cell.

_Katon: Hitsuna no Jutsu!_

A long tendril of fire shot out from her hand and coiled itself around the bars of the cell. It instantly melted, making the door collapse on itself. By this time, Minamo and Mira had heard what was going on, woken up and were rattling on the door. The woman instantly responded and sent out a wave of heat, melting the doors.

"…Do you know this girl?" she said softly, pointing at Kyoko.

"DUH, SHE'S OUR FRIEND!" Mira shouted, running to Kyoko.

"And what the HELL happened there?!" Minamo cried, pointing to the rather derelict cell wall.

"Nothing much." The woman shrugged. "Where are you from?"

"Lon---"

"Konoha." The woman flinched, then a few seconds later regained her composure.

"And how would three young ninjas like you without some form of a jounin accompanying you find yourselves here?" She raised her eyebrow.

Mira pointed at the open door, showing stairs leading upward.

"Less talking, more movement."

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Kakashi pulled on his rucksack with some sort of weariness to it. There had been no news whatsoever about the missing three, and he could not help feeling somewhat responsible for all that.

He sighed before following his client, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura out the front door. Normally, Naruto would have been sleeping due to chakra loss, but he woke up just before the rest started heading off as he had had a nightmare about the rumoured Mist prison.

Naruto slammed the door.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

A Mist-nin groaned as the woman recoiled her fire whip. Kyoko had just woken up and discovered that she had resurrected the ancient Toyama bloodline limit; the controlling of particles in the air and the act of placing chakra in them; in short, force waves.

Minamo gasped, seeing the burn marks on every man's neck in the room. "What IS your name anyway?!"

"Saya Kurotani."

"…Right…"

"Wait, hold on…Can I borrow your pouch for a sec?" Without waiting for an answer, Saya grabbed Mira's pouch and pulled out her whole supply of exploding tags.

"Hey!" Mira exclaimed, attempting to snatch them back. Height difference clearly mattered a lot. Saya hurriedly placed the exploding tags on the wall. She, running through the open door to the prison courtyard, jumped to the nearest tree. Minamo and Kyoko jumped also, Kyoko with a bit of aid, before Mira, realising that retrieving the exploding tags were futile, jumped away also.

The prison exploded fiercely, blasting open the cell doors and even some of the walls.

Saya looked back. She then shouted as loud as she could. "SAYONARA, SUCKERS!" For there could be heard a tide of large cheering voices in the remains.

Before she could contemplate any further, Saya leapt after the three girls and thought silently to herself.

_Bye, Fubuki-sensei…_

"I'm…from Konoha like you guys here, so where would we meet this Kakashi Hatake…?" Saya asked, mid-leap.

There was a moment of contemplation before Minamo suddenly remembered.

"HOLY SHIT, THE BRIDGE!"

"…But where? We all got knocked out by Zabuza so we didn't see the path from which we came." Kyoko muttered, still panting a little from chakra loss.

Saya promptly found an answer to this problem. She stopped momentarily, and inhaled.

"KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!"

The three kunoichi stared, absolutely dumbfounded at the animal that was in front of them.

"How did life get so unbelievably cool?!"

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Naruto and Sasuke were both utterly exhausted by the relentless barrage of attacks from Haku. He, unlike them, was completely nonplussed by the genins' defence jutsus. They were formidable, but not to him.

Naruto was about to unleash another Kage Bunshin attack before Sasuke grabbed him by the collar, clearly very shocked. Haku also sensed something, and went to investigate via his mirror at the top of the dome. The sight which met his eyes was something so unlike usual visions in the Mist that he almost choked.

_A tiger…?!_

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"BOOOOOOMBS AWAY!" Saya and Minamo enthusiastically cried out.

"Oh, for god's sake…" Kyoko and Mira leapt from the tiger, rapidly decreasing its flight. Mira took on a defensive roll, so she could minimise the impact and damage that the mirrors would undoubtedly cause. However, Kyoko positioned herself so she was hands-first. She gritted her teeth for the impact. She then let out a force wave.

The noise was almost deafening when Kyoko's first force wave hit. Haku protected his head, as did Naruto and Sasuke, both rather frightened and confused.

Not according to the plan at all, Mira landed on the top mirror. This, of course, was the one that the real form of Haku was in, and made him lose the last tendrils of his concentration. The mirrors started to crack, and then, in a dramatic James-Bond-like scene, the two girls smashed through the glass mirrors with the little shards swirling around them.

As the water plunged down, Mira slammed onto the ground, but thanks to her affinity, the impact was very light and she rolled back upright again. Kyoko, lucky that the shards had turned to water, flipped forward from a handstand to face Haku with Mira. Haku was now staggering from the weight that his mind had gone through.

On the other side of the chaos, the tiger popped in midair and Saya plunged feet first, and her angle was such that she could slide across the wet floor and knock Zabuza off his feet. Minamo took the more sensible option of flight and ran across to Kakashi, to see if he was alright.

"Minamo…What…"

"Many things, Kakashi. Mainly in the form of this person here." She indicated Saya, who was looking very determined. This was her first fight in a while and she would undoubtedly be very rusty.

**A/N: Ooh, cliffhanger!**

**Many sincere apologies for late updating, but maaaaaany many things appeared in front of them, including, my birthday, exams, exam results, end of term, new pressure of usage of deviantart account and lots of other stuff. I've got a plot fully forming in my head, which means that updates will (hopefully) be quicker. Yay.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Yo, people! Here ish Chaptah 6. 'Nuff said, due to 'author's note block'. It seems to be happening a lot. **

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Zabuza hurriedly readied himself. He was not very used to the fact that an unknown kunoichi could knock him to the floor from behind so easily.

While Saya got into a defensive pose, Kakashi walked over to stand beside her. She, taking a glance, suddenly gasped at the sight of the Sharingan. At this momentary distraction, Zabuza lunged forward with his meat cleaver. However, although Saya crouched to avoid the swipe, Zabuza stopped.

_Kokoro Gomon no Jutsu! _(**Mind Torture**)

An unearthly, unending note was forever loudly reverberating in his mind. He had heard it before, but he had just shaken his head. It surely must have been the shock of the fall that had done it.

Yet it had not gone away. He turned to Minamo, intent flashing in her eyes and hands in a seal.

_The girl! _Zabuza regained control of his senses and ran over to Minamo. Unfortunately, Minamo, so concentrated on maintaining that excruciating tone in Zabuza's brain, had no means of defending herself. Saya rushed forward in order to protect her, but Kakashi stopped her.

"Don't worry. It won't affect us." Kakashi muttered, both of his eyes crinkling upwards to show he was smiling.

Saya was quite oblivious of Kakashi's hidden meaning. "How could you say such a thing, shinobi?! That girl is going to get----" she was cut off mid way by Zabuza halting to a stop. Again.

Minamo abruptly shouted out to Zabuza. "And THIS is for when you put us in that really suckish cell!" Her unimpressive threat disguised the jutsu she was saving up for. She was going to show him what everyone's weakness was, what everyone detested.

_Kokoro Gomon no Jutsu…VERSION 2!_

Zabuza looked to the sky, his eyes widening. "Holy…"

For in his mind, a torture scene was playing…

_Hold a chicken in the air,  
Stick a deckchair up your nose  
By a jumbo jet  
And befriend an Eskimo  
Hold a chicken in the air,  
Stick a deckchair up your nose  
By a jumbo jet  
And befriend an Eskimo   
Hold a chicken in the air,  
Stick a deckchair up your nose  
By a jumbo jet  
And befriend an Eskimo…_

The horrifying song was playing the first verse of its nonsensical chorus over. And over. And over again. Zabuza groaned, his only coherent thoughts being to cup his head in his hands.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Haku readied himself again. Naruto scrabbled up as well, exclaiming joyously over the return of the pair. Mira got in front of anyone else to stand up to Haku while Kyoko lightly knocked down Naruto and Sasuke so she could tend to their injuries without any interference.

"Why does everyone in this goddamn world forget that they have soldier pills in their arsenal…" Kyoko muttered as she fumbled in Naruto's pouch for them while healing Sasuke's wounds with the other hand.

Haku and Mira eyed each other up, a tense atmosphere coming over them. A flick of the wrist from Haku signalled the start of the battle, throwing a bunch of senbon gracefully. Mira sidestepped to avoid them, then abruptly zoomed at Haku.

_What is this speed…?! Surely it can't surpass my…_

Haku avoided Mira's roundhouse kick by a few centimetres. They exchanged punches and a few kicks, he definitely looking quite lucky to avoid them.

"Noticed yet, pretty boy?" Mira said tauntingly as Haku darted away from yet another punch.

…_Is… she somehow able to control the friction between her feet and the ground? _Haku finally realised. He promptly created an icicle, jumped up and landed gracefully on the tip of it.

"…Yeah, I shouldn't have taunted him, right?" Mira sweatdropped. Kyoko sighed exasperatedly. Naruto was easy to heal, but Sasuke's wounds were a bit more stubborn. Suddenly, Sasuke got back up.

"I'm…fine now, Kyoko…" the girl he was talking about clearly didn't believe him, and attempted to knock him back down again, but Sasuke stopped her hand briefly, then sneaked under her raised arm.

"Oh, I hate you…" Kyoko grumbled. She then followed Naruto to Mira, who was slowly losing under the unending torrent of senbon. Although she was able to deflect some with kunai and dodge some with her friction control, it was clear that her focus was loosening.

Suddenly Haku flicked his head around to Zabuza's battlefield. His senses were showing disturbing patterns in Zabuza's mind, and he thus jumped off of his icicle and zoomed to his master's aid.

"Oh no you don't, you ungrateful bishie…" Mira muttered, before summoning her vines to put Haku's speeding feet to a stop.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Saya, seizing the opportunity, created a ball of fire, then threw it up in the air. While it gracefully descended, her hands flashed into seals.

_Fuuton: Dai Sansou!_

A giant gust of oxygen blew from her mouth; it had the momentary idyllic effect of those around her, until suddenly the oxygen came into contact with the fire, in which it turned into a fiery blaze. Minamo's concentration upon her jutsu vanished instantly, leaving Zabuza to dodge the fire, perform a similar-scaled water jutsu to extinguish the fire, and leave him free with his own thoughts again. However, he saw a silver blur come out of the sphere of water.

Kakashi roared as he plunged his Raikiri in Zabuza's chest. Blood vessels were torn, tendons brutally ripped, until Kakashi's hand smashed through the skin on the other side. As the shock wore off, Kakashi's arm twitched.

He had his arm plunged through Haku's heart. Mira's eyes widened when she realised that the vines holding Haku down had unwinded of its own accord. She briefly remembered of the flash of compassion she felt for the Missing-nin before the lightning chakra descended upon him.

_I let someone die like that…?_

She stared shocked at the scene she had seen so many times before, but in a new light. Mira then abruptly started sobbing in her hands.

After all, she could never have a different feeling about that episode. Naruto saw to her immediately.

After a brief fight with Kakashi, Naruto made his sorrowful speech; touching even Zabuza. The only people who didn't react in the predicted fashion were Saya, Kakashi, Kyoko and Sasuke. Together, they stared dumbly at the now tearful Zabuza.

"Well, well, well…What do we have _here_?" Gato sneered.

At the instant tone of his voice, Zabuza, armed with only a kunai in his mouth, drove Gato off the incomplete bridge. He was then laid to rest beside Haku. Mira, regaining her senses, walked towards the corpses and, creating one at her fingertips, laid a white flower between them.

However, the trouble was not yet over.

"Hey, hey, hey, where's OUR fun?!" Gato's soldiers cried, banging their various weapons on the ground. There were an enormous number of them, and it would take a lot of stamina and a considerable amount of luck to take all of them down.

Naruto spluttered at Kakashi. "Don't you have some sort of an awesome jutsu that could take all of them down in, like, a bang?!"

Kakashi was about to answer unhelpfully were it not for the fact that Kyoko had walked firmly in front of the group.

"He doesn't, but I do." Kyoko said determinedly.

She raised her hands up, not listening to the jeers coming from the crowd.

"What are you going to do, zap us off the bridge?"

Kyoko 'humph'ed.

"That's _exactly_ what I'm gonna do." She whispered.

A huge force wave, unlike anything ever seen before, slammed into the crowd before the leader could even reply. It indeed whacked them off the bridge, and, just as the wave petered out, you could hear the roars of the men as they slowly drowned.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Team 7 were back to their usual jolly self – including the newest addition to it.

"I have never heard of a 'Saya Kurotani' in the archives before." Kakashi said, narrowing his eyes. He had been interrogating Saya for quite some time on the journey back to Konoha.

"You shouldn't have. 'Kurotani' isn't my real surname." Saya calmly replied. Naruto and Minamo sniggered. Mira appeared on the other side of the woman.

"What chemistr----" she got a punch on the top of the head by Saya, who maintained her calm face.

"Idiots." Sasuke and Kyoko muttered at the same time.

**A/N: natsama. IS UP!!! I have got a group drawing of everyone in there, including Sachi (upcoming character). Hope you liked it. I'm thinking of entering a filler mission/filler hectic day in here before going on to the Chuunin exams. Oh my god, the Chuunin exams. (squeak)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Chaptar 7!! This is actually not very filler, so I've abandoned the filler title.**

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Peck peck peck.

"…oooOOOHSHADDUP!" Minamo groaned as the tiny bird annoyingly bashed its beak on the window stubbornly. She finally gave in to her temper and threw her alarm clock at the bird. Clearly she didn't realise that there was glass between them, and the clock collided with the glass, sending its mechanism awry and causing it to ring unendingly.

Fortune was clearly not on the side of Minamo Hamazaki that morning.

After a few minutes of unceasing drilling, Minamo leapt out of bed and promptly threw the alarm clock out of the window, her disturbed ears not hearing the distant yelp of annoyance a few seconds later.

She threw her ninja clothes on her and was just adjusting her headband when she realised the bird's presence. It seemed to scornfully look at her, and in return, Minamo glared back at her. She decided that from then on, she hated birds.

"What the hell do YOU want?!" Minamo leered.

The bird impatiently tapped its leg. She stared blankly at it, experiencing one of her frequent delayed reactions.

"…Mission?"

The bird, if it was human, would have clearly sweatdropped. Fed up, it flew away.

"HEY, HEY, HEY, where, who, what, why?! …And how?!" Minamo spluttered. She gave up, strapped her kusari-gama on her back and jumped out of the open window.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Kyoko, already up but without her katana, was leaning against the back of a tree near the outskirts of the village doing what she liked and did best; drawing. As the pencil skittered over the pad, a sweet chirping came from Kyoko's right. She abruptly looked up to see the same bird coming from Minamo's apartment, looking somewhat hopeful that this kunoichi would be more shrewd than the one before.

It fluttered onto her finger.

_WOAH! Wow… _Kyoko thought absently. "Mission? Hokage Tower?" the bird looked slightly more satisfied and flapped away. She felt a bit disgruntled, having been disturbed from her drawings quite early. She packed up her pad and ninja-jumped over to Hokage Tower.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Minamo was not late surprisingly and she entered the Hokage's office, where Mira was, looking a bit sorry for herself. Kyoko entered soon after, late, but after her explanation that she was at the outskirts of the village, she was reprieved. While the Hokage shuffled his papers, Minamo muttered to Mira.

"What's with the sour-grapes?"

Mira quietly snickered. "My venus flytrap jutsu, um, got a bit out of control." And indeed there was a rather large hole to the Third's right.

"…Ah."

The Third Hokage began his speech.

"You three girls have proven yourself to be kunoichi more than capable of expected standards of girls falling from the sky,"

Mira and Minamo snorted while Kyoko looked impassively on.

"I have thus made a decision to form a team and have forthwith picked your Jounin sensei," he looked towards the door. "ENTER!"

The door creaked open to reveal a slightly more polished Saya Kurotani; she had tied up her long black hair and was wearing a modified haori; the sleeves on each arm were short, but were each connected to a bit of a longer sleeve. She also wore slightly short trousers with boot sandals underneath. Minamo reacted instantly, bolting towards her friend to hug her, as did Mira. Meanwhile, Kyoko returned immediately to sketching her latest doodle; Konoha's landscape. Unfortunately, doing it from memory and not on a hard surface were quite effective and lines slopped all over the place.

"Hmph." She packed it up again.

The Hokage managed to somehow gain attention again and continued his speech.

"Minamo Hamazaki."

"Wha? Oh, yeah. Yes. Sir."

"Kyoko Toyama."

"Mm hm."

"Mira Sohma."

"UP AND READY FOR SERVICE! …Well, not quite---"

"Saya Kurotani."

"Hai."

"I hereby assign your new team as 'Team 9'. You, Saya Kurotani, will be required to teach them in the way of the ninja and to accompany them on team-based missions. Do you accept?"

After a horrified look at Mira's maniacal grin, she sighed.

"If I must."

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Training sessions went in an interesting fashion. Each of the kunoichi would demonstrate their bloodline limit, weaponry use, taijutsu, genjutsu and tactic skills to her as she flicked genjutsu situations at them. She looked quite pensive, but Minamo could have sworn that she had fallen asleep at least once. Nevertheless, one day, she presented a form to each of them, somewhat like a school report except sloppier.

A crashing sound interrupted the kunoichis' reading-of-the-report time, as they saw their recently appointed jounin sensei rummaging around fiddling with some papers that had somehow slipped out of her clipboard.

"…Right…genjutsu, covered, tactics covered, wait, I saw that sheet before!" she fussed over the sheets once more while the other three sweatdropped.

"Ah, yes," she finally emerged from the pile of sheets looking triumphant. "We have to go to Hokage Tower in five minutes!"

There was a deathly silence while the congregation realised that they were at _the_ furthest point away from Hokage Tower. And five minutes had turned into four.

Kyoko sighed. At that note, they ninja-jumped as fast as they could to get to Hokage Tower.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"…You should be lucky that all of you are not punished for your actions, but fortunately for you, Kakashi does much worse. Anyway, I have a C-rank mission for you three. It also includes Team 7."

Minamo struggled to make a smile, and in doing so, made it look like she had bad toothache. They had been half an hour late.

"Your client is Gatamaru Totsunaya-sama, and your mission is to accompany him back to the Earth Country from Konoha." The Hokage sighed at the blank looks before him. "He's the goddamn daimyo."

"AAAH."

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Well, well, well…what an interesting bunch we have here…" An emaciated, yet somewhat cool voice resounded from the back of the room. "A girl with extraordinary potential in mind powers, a _Mokuton Hijutsu_ user and…a _Toyama…_"

A boy walked into the darkened room, his steps resounding across the wooden floor.

"You called?" His cold black eyes pierced through the blackness on the other side.

"Yes…Sachi Tanidera. Sachi, I order you to trace that mission that is shown in my crystal ball. I will send some of my ninjas to infiltrate the procession. You will come, seemingly out of nowhere, and help those three defeat them. You will then attempt to get friendly with them and extort information about their respective bloodline limits…"

"What about their Jounin sensei?"

"She is somewhat of an interesting one as well…include her in your 'friend' list until I can confirm my suspicions. Oh, and no disguise is needed, apart from this," the white-skinned hand abruptly threw a Rock-nin headband to Sachi, which he promptly caught with one hand still in his pocket. "Have you got that?"

Sachi sighed.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

So that was how Team 7 and 9 were at Konoha Gate with an elaborate procession.

"These are my escorts?" A rather plump man in carefully made clothes roared. "They're brats, and most of these are _girls_! I won't say anything about their looks, but their skills prob---"

"These _girls_ in particular would be prepared to abandon their mission and look for something more difficult that would perhaps better their skills, sir." Kakashi interjected coolly. The daimyo freaked out slightly and hopped into his carriage.

"Right, er, let's move!" he said. His horses seemed to obey instantly and trotted off, with Kakashi, Minamo, Naruto and Sakura at the front and Saya, Sasuke, Mira and Kyoko at the back. Sasuke was thinking quiet resentment that he was stuck at the back with all the other girls. Mira was already fawning over him anyway.

Mira, after Sasuke forcefully brushed her off, turned to Saya. "Who would be wanting to target the daimyo? I mean, specifically?"

"The daimyo enforced some controversial laws quite a while ago (from what I've heard) which caused lots of uproar," Here Mira grunted vehemently, this not being that much of a surprise. "Since Sound country used to be part of Earth, their troops are suspected also. Earth is more under his control, you see."

Sasuke turned to her. "Why do you know such detailed information? You were, I seem to remember, in a Mist Prison for quite a long time."

Mira started. "Yeah, you aren't even wearing a Konoha hitai-ate! Are you from Mist after all?"

Saya pursed her lips. "There's no reason I would want to be in that rain-filled country any longer. It's just that they need more information to confirm that I did come from Konoha, let alone was a ninja. For the first question, a lot of people come and go out of that dump. I've been there for yonks, so you know…"

"What the hell did you do…?" Kyoko muttered, her eyes widening.

"Not anything that concerns you. " Saya waggled her finger, crinkling her eyelids to make a smile. Kyoko thought it looked quite forced.

"Oh, that's fine then!" Mira gushed. She crossed her legs while the wheels rattled on through the path. It was quite faint now since they were in a field. They were almost up to the border, and would stop by at a neighbouring town for the night. It would then take another day to get to the palace as it would involve avoiding a marsh slap-bang in the middle of Earth Country.

Saya's radio crackled and she immediately put her middle two fingers on the headpiece to steady the sound waves.

"_Routine check please, guys…_" Kakashi's voice came through the speaker. Saya nodded softly, at which point Sasuke and Mira's eyes closed, then reopened. Sasuke, of course, had the Sharingan, which he was scanning the immediate area for chakra patterns. Mira was 'listening to the ground' with her feet, searching for anyone that could have been underground. On the other side of the carriage, Kakashi was doing the same and Minamo was also scanning the horizon for mind waves.

While in the process of doing this, the front and back windscreen of the bourgeoisie slowly descended, and he called out to both, "Any baddies?" with gusto.

Kyoko sweatdropped. Suddenly Mira gasped at the same time as Sasuke wheeled around to face the ground a few metres to their right.

"A big number of people, judging from the vibrations the ground were emitting, coming from Sound, at 2 o'clock!" Mira squeaked, getting out a kunai.

"Hell yeah…" Minamo and Sakura both muttered, glancing awkwardly at each other before readying themselves too.

"What, hey, what's the ruckus! It's 4! It's after 2! Am I going to be killed? What's happening? Aah?!" the daimyo hyperventilated, repeatedly looking at his rather expensive watch.

There was a deathly silence.

Saya uttered in a monotone voice, "Over there, sir," pointing towards the black blob rapidly catching up to them.

The 8 ninjas leaped off the carriage and made a wall, while Naruto ran forward with kage bunshin at hand. He and Mira worked in sync, she 'vining people up' while Naruto took the advantage by spearing them with kunai. Kakashi and Saya were doing various long-range jutsus on the other side of the carriage. Meanwhile, the horses were going crazy, heightening the tension even further.

However, no matter how many they seemed to have struck, they seemed to get back up and charge once again with even more determination. This wore out the ninjas slowly but surely, and soon they were all panting wrecks.

Suddenly a hollow '_bong_' was heard in the distance. A moment of silence enveloped the area before the Sound troops dissolved, the black material of their clothes also mingling with the air particles before vanishing completely. A boy could be seen with his hands in a complicated seal at the place when they were first seen. Saya absently wondered why the boy wasn't sensed in the first place.

The daimyo wasn't a person for delayed reactions and he immediately called for the boy to reveal himself. The boy seemed to falter, and Mira and Minamo ninja-jumped over to him, as it was clear he was losing chakra rapidly. They brought him over to the daimyo and while doing that, saw that he was wearing a Rock-ninja headband. When he saw the daimyo, however, he was deeply humbled and knelt instantly.

"To-Totsunaya sama!" he mumbled.

"Show your face, Genin!"

"Chuunin." He couldn't resist correcting him as he stood up. His hitai-ate was more of a bandanna, like Ibiki's, and his brown spiky hair sprung out from where the hitai-ate finished its grip. His narrow, bored eyes pierced whatever he concentrated on.

"Whatever. You don't know how much I thank you for saving my life back there…you did really know better than these…bodyguards…(here Minamo bit her lip from an angry retort) and as a reward, I'll let you accompany me. You're going back to Earth as well, right?"

Sachi bowed again. "Yes sir. You are most kind."

"Who is your father? Or your mother, rather? I need to tell them of your good deeds!" the daimyo threw his arms up in the air, and in doing so, didn't notice the slight twitch in Sachi's mouth. However, the shy smile returned and he remarked, "Toshiro Setsuna, sir." He said, more confidently.

"Right, well there it is. Well, hop on…what is your name?"

"Sachi. Sachi Setsuna." He explained, cautious of the possible short-term memory loss that the daimyo might have had. Before he could remark any further on that, Kakashi interjected.

"If I might interrupt," he glanced at Sachi suspiciously. "albeit lucky that we escaped from that, more reinforcements might come, especially if we stay here any longer. Shall we move?"

The daimyo glared at him. "Yes, _captain_. Let's go!" The horses responded once again, and they were moving once more. The positions had changed slightly and now Mira and Naruto had swapped places. Sachi joined them at the front as well, him having the daimyo's favour.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Woah."

At least half of the ninjas had said that simultaneously, looking at the luxurious 'guest rooms' that the Earth daimyo seemed to have an endless number of. After an awed silence, Kakashi coughed softly. Minamo, Naruto, Sakura and Mira apologised.

"Please remember that we are meant to protect the daimyo as well as enjoy all this. _Girls_ in one, _Men_ in the other." Kakashi winked (or so was thought) and immediately disappeared along with Naruto, Sasuke and Sachi, who were all sniggering. After Sachi announced that he was going to the loo, everyone settled in, Minamo and Mira checking the DVD selection, Saya and Sakura exploring the drinks cabinet, and Kyoko drawing. Again.

Mira abruptly flicked her head up, then bolted for the door. Everyone looked up, but then breathed a sigh of relief as she yelled 'TOILET!' as the door slammed.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The door clicked as Sachi locked it. He then swiftly took out an elaborately designed scroll and opened it with one fluid motion, laying it on the floor. There were many complicated kanji, but they were all ones that Sachi could easily. His hands flashed into seals, and just before he summoned his book to record observations, he heard a heavy thud on the door.

He froze.

The thuds ceased, at which point he breathed again, but then he saw something that made his insides recoil, a feeling he would never forget.

Many vines were slithering slowly, deliberately under and to the side of the doors, even making it on the side with the hinges. Sachi instinctively backed away, abandoning the scroll. A few of the vines morphed into one, then made for the lock, faster this time. The door unlocked obligingly this time, and Mira came bursting in, slamming her hand on Sachi's throat.

_What did I do…? She couldn't have seen the scroll, it's tiny, it was in my headband, and I made sure to cover my trac---_

"Who are you, where do you come from, and what do you want?" Mira muttered, her grip more intimidating as her vines had not completely receded yet.

"Sachi Setsuna, Earth Country, and to go to the loo." Said Sachi in mock exasperation, hoping she had not seen the scroll lying obviously on the floor.

"Wrong, wrong, and not funny," Mira said with a wry smile. "I know Toshiro Setsuna. He's the VERY nice old man at Ichiraku Ramen. Earth Genin wouldn't get a mission to go to Konoha, and especially not to have free time."

"I'm not lying, I love ramen." Sachi said blankly. Mira's vines spun slowly, the natural dew on them dripping on the floor very gradually.

"…You come from Sound, don't you?" Mira whispered. Sachi visibly twitched. He then decided to take Plan B.

He sighed and hung his head. "Yes, I do. I came to spy on you three's bloodline limits. I am ordered to try to persuade one of you to join Sound---"

"Where Oro is?" There was a pause.

"…If you mean Orochimaru, then yes. He is the head of Sound, you know."

"Why didn't he come for Sasuke? That is his aim, yes?" Mira mused.

Sachi gulped. This girl knew everything. Maybe they are all geniuses. "…He prefers to have as many containers as possible. Including me." He sighed.

Mira closed her eyes. _Pros and Cons. Pros, Oro, this pretty nice-looking boy. Cons, leaving everything I based here behind, including Nyamo and Kiki. Hm._

"Persuasion not needed." Mira said briskly, holding out her hand to shake. Sachi awkwardly took it, pondering that a recon mission was _not_ meant to be that easy. "Oh, and I have one request."

"What?"

"You can take me _after_ the Chuunin exams, kay? Cos I do want to try, ya know. Plus I can confer with Oro in the Forest of Death. Oh, and I meant 'take' in the 'you transport me to Oro' sense, not in the, um, other sense."

"Kay, WHAT THE HELL?!" he yelled, turning red rapidly and backing away into a far corner. Mira coolly did a peace sign, then beckoned him over. He didn't budge. "Oh for god's sake. I have a plan!"

"…Right…" He slinked forward.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

A fanfare resounded at the gates as the daimyo's carriage rolled in, surrounded by ticker tape, ninjas and citizens. The daimyo absorbed all of this into his ego, waving 'gracefully' at the crowd while the Konoha ninja and Sachi assigned to protect him sweatdropped simultaneously. Kakashi and all the others hopped off and bowed, as one, to him. He, in turn, praised them all lavishly, the events that happened involving Sachi seemingly forgotten.

As the ninjas prepared to 'lift off' for a much faster trip back to Konoha, Sachi gave a little half-hearted wave. Everyone returned it, not noticing Mira's curt little nod. At that, Sachi slammed poisoned smoke bombs on the ground, launching a few shurikens to them. The attack was well-timed, surprising most. No one had the time to react as the poisoned fumes entered their system…

Not.

Kyoko had practiced her control of force waves since the 'Haku mission' and her force now resembled a large wall, through which everyone could see the slightly smirking face of Sachi, his feet now slowly sinking into the ground. The daimyo was shocked beyond belief.

"Gifts from Sound, Daimyo. See you guys later." He was completely submerged.

Kakashi let out his breath in a low hiss, as did Saya. Their suspicions were correct. While the daimyo fumed publicly with the rest of the hyperactive crew, Mira made seals that made the earth flat over the hole that Sachi made. No one saw this but Kyoko.

Her suspicions were confirmed.

"Mira?" Mira wheeled around, with a frightened face that could have been the same as a deer in the headlights. Her features suddenly turned apologetic under Kyoko's querying, yet glaring gaze.

"You couldn't possibly track that guy with your affinity, could you? We're all worn out after that long mission, right?" Kyoko said, with an air of slight contempt in it, her face, however, no different than normal.

Mira twitched, than smiled. It was a smile of a friend, and not of a traitor. Kyoko shook off the unnatural deep thought and walked off towards the daimyo, where everyone else was.

Being a medical ninja made you too generous. Kyoko sighed.

**A/N:O Holy… 8 pages?! This is double my normal rate! This is unnatural! Ah well, tis the holidays after all. God, Japan is absolutely sweltering. Right. Chuunin exams, now! whistles Oh, oh, in reviews/PMs, could all fans of the story do a sort of opinion poll, like in Naruto? You can have two votes, and they all must be from one of my OCs. This is because I quite liked the pic I did of the OC group shot (natsama. and I want to do another one. Yeah, thanks, guys! salutes, then bolts off to post via grandma's computer which actually HAS internet**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Chaptar 8! **

…

**Woah, sheesh, the fanfic's been going on a long time. And we're not even at the Chuunin exams!**

**Until now. –dramatic music- **

**Yeah, let's just get on with it. Oh, and the stuff teachers say at the beginning? It's when they're submitting their teams, and I just made a rough, direct translation from the Japanese version. Way too lazy to look at the English. It might be crap anyway. **

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"The four Jounin rookie teachers, please come up. Let's start with you, Kakashi."

"Team 7: Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno. I hereby swear by my name and submit the team that I lead to the Chuunin Selection Exam." Kakashi said with confidence.

There was a general mutter around the room. A rookie team?

"Team 8: Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga. I hereby swear by my name and do the same as my left." Kurenai said gracefully. More mutters.

"Hmm…You, Saya?" Saya was standing between Kurenai and Asuma, breathing softly. She pondered on her fond memories. Minamo and her confidence, Mira and her sweetness, Kyoko and her ability to calm the situation down. Team 9.

She raised her fingers in the classic ninja stance.

"Team 9: Minamo Hamazaki, Kyoko Toyama, Mira Sohma." The congregation gasped, not only at the realisation that they had never attended the Ninja Academy but at the fire in Saya's eyes.

"I hereby swear by my name and do the same as my left."

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The sickle whirled past the girl, embedding itself in the ground. The chain preceding it tightened around her. Mira Sohma was well and truly stumped.

The chain then loosened, and with the rest of the chain, came Minamo Hamazaki, sweat dripping off her face. She would be in time. She would.

"Oh, no, you don't, Ev-tard!" Mira swiftly morphed into a tree a second before Minamo plunged a kunai into her, cutting off a branch in the process. She swore, then had an uncharacteristically good idea.

She slowly turned her kunai and poised it a centimetre above the ground.

"I know you're behind me, and I know this is the only way out. You are part of the ground, after all." She said.

Mira emerged. "You've improved, Nyamo. Those eyes of yours now almost equal the Sharingan."

"You too, except with what's-his-name."

"Yamato."

"Him. Now, according to sensei, don't we have to find Kyo-chan now? And team up?"

Mira inclined her head in response. Minamo scanned the area.

"Hello there."

A barrage of senbon burst from nowhere and a few hit Minamo and Mira in the shoulder. They immediately felt a numb sensation in their arms.

"Those needles, if they hit you in the head, would make your brain numb. You would be dead then. So would you if they hit you right here." Kyoko suddenly appeared, carrying out a modified Tai Chi move, slamming her palms on Mira and Minamo's chests. They lay sprawled on the floor, the poison now wearing off. Just before that, though, Kyoko used her past quip to her usage. Poisoned senbon were now just this close to piercing their necks.

"Time's up, guys." Saya walked to the team, holding three slips of paper, looking rather joyful. The girls straightened, Mira brushing herself off. "I have a preeeseeent…" she sang.

She held the papers in her right hand in front of her, like you would do with cards. They were all Chuunin papers.

"Holy shit. That's…" Minamo snatched them all and squealed to the world.

"Oi, there's one for me, too!" Kyoko shouted and tackled Minamo to the ground. Mira didn't know really what was going on, but jumped into the fight as well. Saya smiled.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The three kunoichi walked solemnly to the door to the Chuunin room. Saya couldn't be there to see them off for some reason. Just before Minamo reached for the handle, Mira stopped her.

"Guys…what's happening? What's happening back where we came from?"

A shudder went up everyone's spine. They had completely forgotten everything. Their families, their schools, the world, their friends…

Kyoko muttered a cynical response. "Global warming is probably happening right now, you know."

"But what's happening here? Why are we here?" Mira spluttered.

"We're making a new start. We've all had somewhat of a bad experience back there, right?"

No response. The atmosphere was so heavy that Kyoko couldn't bear it.

"What's happening?" Kyoko asked. "The biggest cliché in the history of mankind."

Mira and Minamo laughed, and then opened the doors to a new start that they would stick to for the rest of their lives.

The crowd stared at them.

These were the people who had 'fallen from the sky'. They weren't just rookies, they didn't even go to the Academy! Yet they knew secrets of this world that most would never know…

"HEY NYAMO!" Naruto shouted, bounding over to them.

"Yo guys!" Mira said, waving at Sakura, who was waving back.

"Hm? Naruto? Introduce all of us!" Kiba said, a hand vaguely gesturing Team 8 as well.

"We know you guys…" Minamo purposefully said in a creepy manner, waving her hands.

"Yeah, but we don't know you." Shikamaru retorted. Minamo swallowed an adoring 'OMG'.

"I am Minamo Hamazaki."

"Nyamo to you all." Naruto interrupted.

"Mira Sohma, guys!" Mira waved girlishly.

"Kyoko Toyama." Kyoko said, carrying out a half-hearted wave.

"Kiki to you all." Naruto interrupted once more. He earned a thwack for his efforts.

"She's the medical ninja!" Mira threw her hands up to the ceiling. She also earned a thwack, and many awed gazes from around the room. Kyoko saw this.

"I don't heal people who stare at me like I'm God." Kyoko said, sweatdropping. The room turned the opposite direction as one.

"GUYS, IT'S BEST TO SHUT UP!" Ibiki roared as he popped into view, along with other Chuunin proctors. (**A/N: Again, all canon lines that sound weird are translated from memory.**)

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Saya was sitting on a bench, twiddling a dango stick around her fingers.

"I'm nervous too, you know." Kakashi said, staring down at her. Saya and Kakashi, after lots of missions together with their teams, knew each other very well, and were good friends.

"It's not like that, jerk." Kakashi sat down next to her. "Yes, you may have some dango. Oh wait…"

"Thanks." And with that Kakashi pulled down his mask and proceeded to eat the takeaway dango with Saya.

Saya stared stupidly at Kakashi's face. She had expected a hideous scar that he was embarrassed to show to general company. What it actually was was a fairly handsome face with puffed-out cheeks to indicate that he was chewing a bit of dango.

She then blurted out, "Why do you hide your face?"

"…My father did, I suppose. I didn't use to before."

"But..why…to me?"

Kakashi shrugged as he pulled another piece of his stick.

Saya pondered. "It's just that…they're the closest people that I've had for a very long time. I can't get used to handing them over to such a harsh exam." She saw Kakashi looking at her blankly. "Oh, no, you wouldn't understand, I suppose…" She looked away.

"No, I think I do." Kakashi muttered. "Here, you have the last piece." He handed over the plastic box to Saya.

"Thanks." She grinned. When they had first met, she thought of him a rather mysterious individual, and undoubtedly he thought the same of her.

It turned out that maybe they were more similar than they both thought.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Mira was right by the window, in the glaring sun. She almost couldn't see the exam paper. She knew that Kyoko was right in front of her and Minamo was on the other side of the room. They were all relying on her for the answers. After all, although they knew what was going to happen, they wanted to try. After all, it would be fair. Minamo had snorted at the thought.

Luckily, no one had noticed the pupils in her normally solid purple irises.

She was reading the answers off Sakura's paper, then communicating to Mira and Kyoko. Kyoko sometimes cheated in a very amusing way.

At the beginning of the exam, the poor nerd-looking boy was immediately placed by Kyoko and was thus immediately targeted. Kyoko's pencil skittered over some answers, but then the chair under her, for some reason involving Mira, crumbled. There was a bit of a ruckus, during which she had stabbed her pencil in the back of the boy next to her.

"Sorry," she muttered as everyone stared at her.

The poison numbed the senses very slightly and conveniently ignored the brain. Kyoko's keen eyes could easily see the paper without an offending arm in the way.

Then came Question 10. Many people quit emotionally while Mira casually inspected her nails. They were just waiting for Naruto to put up his hand, then all would be well.

They were waiting. And waiting.

"Are you all absolutely sure?"

Minamo decided to take drastic action.

_Denpa no Jutsu!_ (**from what I remember from Furuba, that means Vibe**)

She receded into her mental protective shell. No light. Only darkness. I have to give up. Otherwise my teammates will never forgive me.

Well, it worked.

As Anko smashed through the window and commenced her dramatic entrance, Kyoko threw a paper aeroplane through the room. It said 'VICTORY' on the body.

1 done, 3 to go.

**A/N: Okay, this is actually abnormal. I finished Chapter 8 on the same day as Chapter 7?!  
Yeah, my first try at an emo/dramatic bit in a fic apart from Haku's. Haku is easy. Hope it's fine. And not too obvious. –wince- **


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Once again, I am writing a new chapter on the same. Day. Sheesh. This is not goddamn normal! –frantic face- (edit: took a break after writing that bit. XD )**

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The trees didn't look that ominous in the first place, were it not for the high, locked, padlocked and sealed with sutra-ed fence that surrounded it. And, of course, the unearthly screams that came from within.

Team 9 looked positively delighted.

Kyoko was the only exception to that rule, looking a bit tired and disgruntled. They were standing right next to Team 7, of which one member was being exceedingly arrogant.

After Anko's physically exhausting speech, Team 9 signed the sheet and took a 'Heaven' scroll. It was decided that Kyoko should keep it in her summoning scroll, as this also summoned her more fiddly medical equipment. However, they did this after they were submitted into Gate 10. Naruto gave a fleeting wave to them, and Mira just noticed that there was something else marring his expressions. She returned the wave though and they both walked into their separate areas.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Kyoko placed the scroll in the large circle that contained her medical equipment. _Kai!_ The things vanished. She stood up. "Kay, guys, what's the strategy?"

"…What strategy?" Minamo asked with a blank look on her face.

"…Didn't you guys see who was going into the gates near us?!" Kyoko said, irritation evident in her speech.

"Hey, I saw Gaara!" Mira said brightly, indicating the left side.

Not the best thing to do.

Minamo whipped around, sparkles alight in her very wide eyes. "p-p-…Panda-kun?!" she brought her hands together, crossing her chest. However, she was brought back to earth with a prompt 'thwack' by Kyoko.

"There is absolutely no way that we're going to get Gaara's scroll. Got it?" Kyoko said in a menacing tone.

"Yes, ma'am." Minamo squeaked.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo **(yes, I did make up 'Daisuke' and 'Renji'. My cousin and Bleach character. –sweatdrop- )**

Shigure stopped for the umpteenth time. Although the leader of his team, the huge senbon umbrellas he carried on his back were hindering his movement. His teammates, Daisuke and Renji stopped also.

They had sensed something.

"No, look, Nyamo, although Neji, Lee, and Gaara are in this exam, you are NOT. GOING. TO MAKE ANY FORM OF COMMUNICATION TO THEM!"

"But Kyooochan…."

Kyoko stepped out of the trees noisily and saw the Ame team looking incredulously at her. Mira had kindly stopped Minamo. However, it was a lost cause for Kyoko, who was looking like a deer in the headlights.

"Well, well, well…first victim spotted, huh?" Shigure snarled, throwing up his senbon umbrella. It started releasing needles before Kyoko could process her thoughts.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The needles lay in circles, some bent, some stuck in the ground. Kyoko's sudden force wave had repelled the needles in all directions. The complete, circle, all-round defence that was way more convenient and rather cooler was, however, an A-rank jutsu and Kyoko had not trained for it yet.

Minamo chose to come into the scene at this point, her kekkei genkai already activated. Because of this, she deflected more senbon needles with her kusari-gama. "Hi guys! Which scroll have you got?"

"…Earth."

"Hey, cool! First time lucky!" Minamo raised her kusari-gama and rested it across her shoulder while Kyoko carried out a tai chi stance.

"Let's rock."

Minamo lunged forward, whirling her sickle towards Shigure, who easily dodged. The sickle embedded in the ground, Minamo spun around it towards Daisuke from behind, but unfortunately his teammates' eyes were not trained and they screamed, "BEHIND YOU!" just as the sickle plunged into his back. Blood spurted out in the opposite direction as the carrier flumped forward. A little splashed on Minamo's fluffy miniskirt, right on the 'Evanescence' symbol. She disgustedly wiped it off with her spit, and sighed.

"My first kill, huh? Not much of a guy." She drawled, straightening her headband.

"Why you little---" Renji screamed. He could've screamed a lot more, but he had realised that the vines on the ground had hold of his legs, and were holding him down firmly.

"Nice to meet you!" Mira smirked cutely as the vines unintentionally injected their poison into Renji's legs. He was dead before he hit the floor.

"Woops."

Shigure wildly looked around him. "You're rookies! And you didn't go to the Academy! What's this bloodshed for when you didn't train for it?"

"We didn't need to, jerk." Kyoko muttered. Her left hand was around his neck and her right pulling his hand into a painful wristlock.

"I'm afraid you do, rookies." He snarled. He whipped his senbon umbrella in a circle around him, throwing the three kunoichi out of his way with various cries.

Mira increased the friction between her feet and the ground and sank into it.

Minamo and Shigure were engaged in a furious battle, one side hurling katon jutsus and the other trying to throw senbon in every direction, letting out the occasional earth jutsu.

"You really think you can get away with this?! I can't die here, wait until I show you my REAL power; one which you can't defeat---"

"More senbon needles?" A voice came from below the ground.

"Wha----" An excruciating pain numbed his body, first engulfing his legs and then tingling the tips of his fingers.

Mira had just unleashed the most obvious way to defeat a man.

"OH MY…owowowowowow…" the Ame-nin fell to the ground, clutching his legs together, sweating profusely. A few minutes later, he stopped moving altogether.

Kyoko looked on impassively. "So that was 'The Unbeatable Jutsu' that you were bragging about last week?"

Mira emerged from the ground, a few soil marks on her face. "Eh heh…"

Minamo dived into his pack to search for the scroll. "And…YEAH!" She pulled out the Earth scroll that they were searching for for all the world to see.

After they sealed it into the scroll. "Um, guys, to be honest, I didn't know it was going to be over that quickly, so can we explore a bit more?" Mira asked sheepishly.

"That's a great idea, Mira!" Minamo exclaimed, oblivious to everything obvious.

Kyoko put her hand to her forehead.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Mira seemed to be actively leading the group in the forest more to the south side. However, Minamo took a rest, her sickle needing cleaning and they stopped at the river, where Mira and Minamo promptly fell asleep for Kyoko to do night watch. As the water fluidly ran across her blade, Kyoko put some of the water to her forehead. It turned out that the South side of the forest was the most humid.

A great slam was heard to the groups' left.

Minamo and Mira didn't stir at all, even after Kyoko poked them with the katana, so she decided to leave a note scratched in the ground.

'Heard something to our left. Will be back in half an hour.' Kyoko then slid her katana into her scabbard and blurred off.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

After running for a while, Kyoko leant on a tree and looked at the carnage behind her.

Naruto's Kyuubi powers were about to be sealed, Sasuke was doing nothing to help her, Sakura was crying and Orochimaru atop a snake was at the centre of it all. Kyoko thanked God if there was one that Mira wasn't here. She then very quietly sat in the grass, making no movement to change the situation.

If she did, she knew that the story had no hope afterwards.

So she just sat there watching, like she did on a computer screen before.

Fire hurtled through the air to meet Orochimaru as he was bound to the tree. However, he made no move to react to the fire as it burnt off his substitute skin.

Sasuke groaned. "Why…won't you die?!"

"That is not the point, Sasuke-kun." He raised his head. "I am Orochimaru, and I have a present to give you." His hands were already in a seal before he finished speaking.

Kyoko scratched her head. This was, after all, one of her hated bits in the story. A main characters' emo conversion hung in the balance.

She scrunched up her face in distaste. And she made her move.

**A/N: Ooh. Cliff-hanger. Well, that was a pretty short chapter. And I still need quite a lot of PMs for the WVCD manga vote. So, if you please…**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Ungh. I am mentally drained. Hm. Chapter 10, huh? Well, I've come quite a long way. And I've still got, what, 6 arcs to do?!**

**Ah well. I've given up the 'o's. They were a bit tiring to copy and paste after a while.**

**

* * *

**

A large quantity of force burst out against Orochimaru, sending him crashing into a tree. Sasuke widened his eyes as he saw the short white hair blowing in the smoke caused by the explosion.

"Why are you here?!"

"A whim." Kyoko drawled as she unsheathed her sword. Orochimaru approached, his skin from the Grass-nin basically torn off, revealing his true face. "The Toyama comes, eh?" he sneered. He also unsheathed his sword in a slightly more gruesome way.

"He has snakes for friends! And---" Sakura started.

"Don't tell me things I already know."

* * *

Minamo snored and thus didn't notice the rough battling noises a while back. Mira turned over.

It was clear that Kyoko wasn't going to have back up.

* * *

Orochimaru let his opponent have a break while straightening his arm. Kyoko had almost cut it off on one of her ninjutsu attacks, but it was interrupted by a bunch of snakes heading her way with long fangs.

She was completely worn out. Her sword arm was limp, and her whole body was rising up and down speedily, her being out of breath. Kyoko thanked the imaginary God that her asthma didn't follow her to this world. She sneered.

Her plan had worked. Orochimaru whipped around to face a barrage of senbon needles from behind. It was too close to dodge and he blocked the attack with his sword. While occupied from doing that, Kyoko threw the real needles, poison and exploding tag attached. They collided with the back of his face.

_What?! Kay, it's cool if that blew off an arm or something, but this is Orochimaru, and…_

She heard muttering. It sounded like seal names. Her stomach sank.

_He would have something for back up, such as…_

"A Replacement Jutsu!" Sakura and Sasuke shouted on cue, as the log dropped to the ground.

Someone stepped out of the undergrowth. Kyoko didn't want to know who. She felt a wind on her neck, and then something sink in.

As she widened her eyes and Sakura screamed, she thought to herself. Was it senbon? Nah, it was too…

_Oh fucketyfucketyfucketyfucking fuck. _

Kyoko slammed into the ground as the cursed seal of Heaven morphed onto her neck.

Orochimaru's neck slid back into place as he licked his lips. "Well, I wouldn't mind using two seals for this person…" He approached Kyoko, now unconscious.

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Sasuke came to life with a kunai in his hand. Unfortunately, he was still jittering which rather betrayed his fear. Sakura worked in sync with Sasuke, as he, stealing Orochimaru's idea from a few minutes ago, did a Fireball Jutsu behind Orochimaru as Sakura managed to take Kyoko's body to safety, where Naruto's was already. While battling, Orochimaru thought to himself.

_I came for an Uchiha…and I got a Toyama. But even if all the Toyama's powers are beneficial in battle, an Uchiha…_

He thus made his plan, and zoomed for the sweating body of Kyoko, sword wielded. Sakura was overwhelmed by the speed and fell back on the grass. Sasuke, however, stood in front of Kyoko, shaking slightly.

The sword had been a ploy to disguise the lengthening of the neck. As Orochimaru sunk into the ground and Sasuke fainted, he thought to himself that it was an unusually good day he was having at the moment.

* * *

As Orochimaru morphed out of the tree to what he thought was the designated meeting place, he saw a girl with blond pigtails staring incredulously at him.

_Oh shit, she saw me._ He took out his sword and prepared to finish her off quickly before he was put off by something so insane, so improbable that his mouth almost sagged open.

"OOOOOOOOOOOORRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Mira zoomed, an unearthly grin covering her face to Orochimaru's stupefied one. His sword clattered out of his hand as he was well and truly glomped.

Maybe it wasn't such a good day.

"Get off me, girl!" he threw her to the ground mentally scarred.

"Ah. Right." Mira stood up, with an expectant grin on her face, her virtually shaking from excitement.

Orochimaru's mentality had suffered a serious beating, and he asked, "Why are you standing here? I was going to kill you a few minutes before…"

"You're going to give me a Cursed Seal, right, Oro? Why else would you summon me here?"

Another serious shock. "You're…Mira…_Sohma_?!?!" he spluttered.

"Why the shock? Did my name not waft out waves of beauty and strength?" she grinned, gesturing down her body, striking a slight pose. "Now, where's my Cursed Seal?"

"…Who said I was going to give you one?" he said, becoming a bit more serious, bending down to retrieve the Kusanagi.

"I DID! AND SACHI THOROUGHLY IMPLIED IT, ORO-CHAN! YOU CAN'T DENY THAT!"

"CALL ME SAMA, YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Orochimaru snapped. They were now glaring bolts of lightning. After recovering, he said, "So, Sachi's mission wasn't an almighty success as pictured…" while wiping a stray lock of hair behind his ear.

"What do you mean by that, Oro-chan-sama?!" Mira pouted. Orochimaru let out a strained sigh. "He could have picked a more serious individual—"

"Kiki is WAY too serious and Nyamo isn't more serious than me!" Mira nodded, folding her arms. "Now what is it you wanted to talk to me about? I do have other things to get on to…?" Mira extended her fingers and narrowed her eyes suggestively.

"So do I." Orochimaru growled. "I wanted to discuss your role in a very important mission of mine and the source of your training before that."

"You mean the Konoha Invasion?" she said, maybe a little too loudly.

Orochimaru winced. She did know the future. Sachi's analysis was right after all.

"Well, for instance, it could be that you're pretending to have an alliance with me, although…" Mira opened her mouth to say something. "ALTHOUGH…(she fell silent) this doesn't appear to be the case. However, either way, I must have some form of monitoring you. Either you must report to me every week at an undecided location in Konoha or join me at Sound now as one of my soldiers. My right-hand-man will train you if you choose the second option."

Mira's mouth opened and shut like a fish. "I DO NOT. WANT. KABUTO TO TRAIN ME AT SOUND! I WANT TO BE YOUR STUDENT! BUT AFTER THE CHUUNIN EXAMS!" She roared, curling herself around his arm. Orochimaru was quite literally helpless, having had no experience in undying, unwavering but impertinent affection. "Oh for god's sake. Another student is better than tolerating this…thing." He swung his sword down to crack Mira's skull in two. Or not.

His arm was being held up by the vines emerging from Mira's hand. Orochimaru's eyes widened. "With your tuition, Oro-chan-sama, that could be snakes!" Mira giggled, blushing. "I'm afraid the Konoha option is not possible as I suspect one of my teammates have twigged on what's going on. However, you should have no question in my loyalty." She suddenly double-taked and rushed through the forest, snapping many twigs in her path, saying, "Gotta go. See you at the preliminaries!" she waved as she blurred off. Her Mokuton bunshin had woken up. Something must have happened.

* * *

Sasuke and Kyoko were lying down under a massive tree root, wet towels on their foreheads as the strain of the Cursed Seal further pressured them. Naruto was beside them, but for a slightly different reason.

Sakura was having a very hard time trying not to sleep. She then sensed something move behind her and she flung a kunai out behind her, not caring where she aimed.

A squirrel, shocked at the onslaught, scrambled back into the undergrowth. As Sakura mentally kicked herself for being so paranoid, three ninja stepped out. (**A/N: I have NO recollection of what happened. So I'll make it up.**) Sakura, her senses increased, ran over to the horizontally-positioned group and brought out another kunai.

"We have come to kill Sasuke-kun and Kyoko-san…"

Sakura's eyes widened as she saw a blur race towards her and pain scorched across her face.

_Air…?!_

She shielded herself and took a few steps backwards. She then opened one eye to look at her opponents.

They were the Sound Genin: Dosu Kinuta, Zaku Abumi and Kin Tsuchi. All (save for Dosu whose mouth you couldn't really see amidst the bandages) wearing confident smirks on their faces.

After catching sight of their Sound headbands, Sakura burst out, "What is that thing you put onto Sasuke and Kyoko?!"

Dosu took a glance at the purple chakra emanating from their bodies and turned back to Sakura.

"I see now… if Orochimaru-sama did this, then it means…"

Sakura clenched her fists.

"We have to kill you four."

"KONOHA SENPUU!" A speeding leg caught Kin and Dosu full in the face, spiralling them into trees a few metres away.

Rock Lee lay, ear pulsing blood, exhausted from the sound waves that he had confronted. He was staring at his crush, who had just cut off her flowing pink hair, and was now clutching her headband, silently vowing her determination would not fail her later.

"Save the drama for yourself, Sakura." Mira shouted as she leapt into the fray.

"…That was NOT what you were meant to say!" Minamo retorted, also jumping in.

"Well, what was I meant to say then, Nyamo?!"

"SPARE the drama for yourself. You were actually meant to be kind!"

"You think I'm going to be kind for a person with PINK hair?!"

"Mira, we've been through this."

"Well I've forgotten!" Mira huffed, turning away from her friend, doing the same.

Kyoko's backup had arrived.

**A/N: And it's here! Truly awful lateness caused by school and increased homework. Anyways, CLIFFHANGER! –dramatic motions- …Plus, the character poll is still going on, and this is what it's like so far… Minamo – 2 Kiki – 2 Mira – 1 Saya – 2 Sachi – 1 Yes. The list is small. So hopefully, with the chuunin exams over, the popularity will shoot up. I have big plans for this… -evil face– **


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Chapter 11. –gasp– …No, not gasp. Wait, this is Chapter Eleven and I'm STILL at the goddamn Forest of Death?!**

…

**Anyway…

* * *

**

Kyoko winced in her fitful sleep. Her teammates were fighting the Sound genin – and they seemed to be quite even. Before Dosu could send sound waves, Minamo would threaten to chop his arm using her sickle; and when Zaku tried to send air waves, Mira tried to strangle him.

Although most didn't notice it, the atmosphere suddenly became heavier. Incidentally, at the same time, Dosu cornered Minamo with his sound arm at her ear, while Zaku had Mira in a painful arm lock.

Suddenly a blow of concentrated force slammed through the scenery,knocking everyone to the side. Neji jumped down, alarmed at what his Byakugan was seeing.

Kyoko was staggering up, purple chakra rising in slow, pulsing circles around her body. While everyone gasped, the blow of force took form. A misty white dragon. However, it got pulled back into Kyoko's chest, while she speeded over to Dosu.

Kyoko was eerily silent as she calmly put her hand on the back of Dosu's head.

"AAAAGH!" Dosu cried as the amplified force wave slammed into his head, giving him almost definite concussion and sending him metres away. She then, without any hesitation, started to run over to Minamo, who was backing away at her friend's sudden dark glare.

Minamo widened her eyes as Kyoko stopped abruptly. She fell on her knees and clutched her head, moaning softly. Meanwhile, everyone's attention was diverted to Sakura clutching Sasuke, who had also arisen from the Cursed Seal.

"You two are strong." Kin stammered, her two team mates both incapacitated. "I'll give you the scroll… you…" Kin blinked. "Deserve it…" she muttered, dragging her team mates into the bushes.

Sasuke woke up from his demon-like stupor. The first thing that came to his sight was Kyoko, seemingly asleep. His ears directed him to Naruto, Sakura and the rest of Teams 9 and 10. Although alarmed at Sakura's sudden 'image change' he was reassured very quickly (although he didn't show it) that so many people were there to help them.

After Team 10 went their separate way, Minamo and Sakura exchanged awkward glances. They had no idea what they were going to do with Kyoko, who didn't show any signs of waking up.

"FOR GOD'S SAKE!" Mira lost her patience. "How can a normal person SLEEP this long?!"

"If your information is correct and she was taking night watch first, then that means she hasn't had any sleep for the last 24 hours…" Sakura muttered.

"…That doesn't matter! How the hell are we going to get to the Tower in time if she's like this!"

* * *

_Mm…ugh…what time did I __get to SLEEP last night?! Gurgh…_ Kyoko sleepily thought.

She could feel a sharp, exhilarating wind blowing her hair behind her, yet she also felt warmth.

_Hm…_ She slowly opened her eyes.

Sasuke was carrying her through the trees. Her eyes abruptly widened, straining her sockets as they were not used to such action.

"GURAAAAAGHAHEH!" Kyoko screamed, leaning backward, pushing Sasuke away from her and spoiling the leverage, letting her fall to the ground below.

Sasuke had a rather more embarrassing fall, sliding on the tree trunk he was going to jump off of and falling face-first.

The rest of the congregation stopped. Mira giggled.

"I think she woke up."

"RISE AND SHINE, KEEKSTER!"

"What kind of a nickname is that, idiot?!" Kyoko growled to Minamo, pushing herself off the grassy floor.

Sasuke lay there, seemingly oblivious of Naruto's guffawing and Sakura's very polite giggle. Kyoko walked calmly up to them, eyes alight. They immediately stopped.

Kyoko then kicked Sasuke, VERY hard in the head. A minute muffled yelp was heard distantly.

"What the HELL do you think you're playing at?! I risk my reputation to save you and you still get a cursed seal?! And what was with the carrying just now?!"

"Shut. Up." Sasuke glared.

Naruto backed away, hiding behind a tree.

"Eheh…Let's go to the tower now, shall we?" Sakura sweatdropped. Their team didn't really have to get any scrolls; Team 9 had recovered an extra 'Heaven' scroll accidentally (Minamo was involved) and was keen to dispose of it.

Meanwhile, a figure calmly and silently watched from the shadows.

* * *

Kabuto Yakushi and his team walked through the double doors and were met by a sneering individual.

"Orochimaru-sama. I have them."

Orochimaru held his hand out while Kabuto placed his nin-cards out on it.

The pictures contained those of Sasuke Uchiha and Kyoko Toyama. They both had their stats at the bottom and a brief comment.

Orochimaru then blinked. There was an extra card lying beneath Kyoko's.

"…"

The card was that of Mira Sohma. Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. That girl was willing to do anything – and she seemed to know where to go.

"That is all, you may leave." He drawled as he pushed himself off the wall and pocketed his cards.

Time for the Preliminaries.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Preliminaries! I'm finally up to here. Thanks for all the alerts and faves that you put on this story! And there will be way more appreciation for reviews! So I know what you guys want, what your fave two OCs are (yes, the poll is still there.) and how I can improve. Anyways…hope you like the next instalment…

* * *

**

The 24 genin walked in to the stadium cautiously. However, the caution soon turned into relief as they all saw their Jounin senseis standing side by side in front of them.

Saya was also relieved – she had heard the distressing news from Anko and was just happy to see her three students alive, albeit a bit battered. Her attention then diverted to the Hayate, who finished explaining the rules of the fights. Then the Hokage stepped up.

"Now, before we begin…" the Hokage stated. "I am aware that there is a Medical ninja in this group. I would like you to know that you may only heal yourself and other persons after their respective fights have ended." Some of the genin cursed while Kyoko shrugged.

The genin then trudged up the stairs to the balconies. Minamo and Mira leaned over the barrier and Kyoko slumped against the wall. Sasuke's fight was about to begin.

"Oh, by the way, Kiki…are you sure you're okay?" Mira said with a good deal of concern in her voice.

"As fine as I can be." Kyoko replied, dripping sarcasm.

"That's good." Mira gushed, turning back to watch the match; Sasuke was at this moment getting owned by Akadou, his cursed seal not helping.

A hoarse gasp came from Minamo. Mira quickly glanced to her right – Minamo's hands were shivering and her knuckles were turning white from gripping the bar so hard.

"I…love…life…" Minamo whispered. For there was Gaara and Neji, both totally uninterested in her in the opposite balcony.

"Oh God." Kyoko and Mira said as one. Minamo then felt a harsh force on her head.

"…How could you have thwacked me although you are no where in reach?!" Minamo pouted.

Her question was answered as she faintly saw the force receding back to its master.

A roar was heard as Sasuke's match came to a close. Kiki abruptly stood up and walked briskly down the stairs. As Kakashi was leading Sasuke away from the matches, Kyoko stood in front of them.

"This might help. It's a painkiller." Kyoko said, holding up a small vial filled with a colourless liquid.

Sasuke managed to glare at her. "Why didn't you give me this before?"

"Didn't see the need too." She jumped to the stairs, in time for Shino's match to begin.

* * *

Kakashi took a defensive position as a bead of sweat rolled down his face. The snake Sannin Orochimaru had made his entrance.

"What is the matter? Surely you're not worrying over someone like him?"

Kakashi's eyes hardened. "What do you mean?" His Raikiri activated.

Orochimaru's eyebrows raised slightly in response to the lightning jutsu, but then his eyes quickly regained its cold composure. "There are other people you may need to worry about in time." His killing glare did the rest of the job for him, and he disappeared through the wall.

Kakashi, exhausted from the killing intent placed on him, turned to Sasuke.

_Other people…?

* * *

_

Minamo vs Tenten.

After three more matches, it was left at that. Minamo twitched.

"I…get to fight…her?!"

"Tenten."

"…Her!"

Tenten jumped down and got into a fighting stance. Minamo poofed in, still looking slightly pained at the thought of having to fight a very pointless character.

"What's the matter? Worried?" Tenten sneered. Minamo bore the facial expression of someone absolutely dumbfounded that someone as worthless as she could insult her.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT, DOUBLE-TEN!" It was Tenten's turn to raise an eyebrow.

Kyoko sighed. "What a crap nickname."

Before Minamo could bring her pointing finger back down, Tenten launched a barrage of kunai.

"EH?!" MInamo blocked shoddily with her kusari-gama. The kunai dropped to the floor as she slowly regained her surroundings. _I am SO screwed. _She activated her Mahengan. Irises faded into her otherwise clear purple eyes. Her vision faded slightly so they could concentrate on what was going through Tenten's mind.

Minamo jumped, releasing her weight, so she could hit Tenten in the head. However, Tenten read her moves, and summoned a huge shuriken and whacked the weight out of the way, slamming it into the wall. Minamo whirled around, baring her sickle, but Tenten also saw what she was doing and timed her jump so she could lightly land onto Minamo's head, and do a back kick on it. She went slamming into the ground.

She looked back, blood dripping from her mouth at the smug genin.

"Now to finish you off." Tenten said. She jumped up in the air, and brandished two summoning scrolls. She soon disappeared in the speed at which they were rotating.

_Oh crap – Tenten's got killing intent?!_

Minamo focused her Mahengan – unbeknownst to her, the irises got slightly bigger.

She soon saw a blur which only could be Tenten. Minamo gripped her sickle and bore the first torrent of weapons. Suddenly, the atmosphere seemed to slow down. She jumped and expertly landed on one of the weapons, and made a few hand seals.

_Mahengan! Kokoro Gomon no Jutsu!_

Tenten suddenly felt a piercing headache as a single note reverberated in her head – everytime she tried to cancel it out with her recovery training, it became even louder.

The scrolls crumpled as Tenten's jutsu went wrong, and Tenten spiralled towards the ground, still trying to pull hair from her head.

After the impact, Minamo walked up to her to look at her slowly disappearing form, her being taken care of by the Medical ninjas.

"Wait, so does that mean---"

"Winner, Minamo Hamazaki." Hayate drawled, interrupting Minamo's question.

She slowly stared at him before going into a poorly choreographed dance routine of triumph, ending in a flailing jump back to her team. Saya had also rejoined the group.

"I won't say 'well done', okay?" Kyoko muttered, looking at the ground.

Saya sweatdropped. "Well, I will. I must say, Mina---" she gasped inwardly. Saya focused on Minamo's (still activated) Mahengan.

"What?" Minamo said as the black irises faded again into clear purple.

"Look at Kiba's form! I really should teach you guys summoning jutsus…" Saya shook her head as Kiba and Akamaru did their 'Gatsuuga' at Naruto, who looked pained.

Saya folded her arms and concentrated. _What could this mean…?_

Her thoughts were interrupted by the win of Naruto. Clapping like the others, she instinctively stepped back as Kakashi appeared alongside her.

"Yo."

"Hi. Everything alright back there?"

"I guess." Kakashi drawled. Saya raised her eyebrows and sighed nonchalantly.

"I've always wondered what his parents were like… I mean, why would they willingly seal that monster into him?"

Kakashi flinched slightly as Naruto ran back up the stairs.

"I knew his parents very well… They wouldn't have wanted something like that for their child."

Wit was dripping off of Saya's face as she narrowed her eyes. "You're avoiding the question. Is there something that I should know?"

Kakashi burrowed his hands into his pockets. "I wasn't there to see them…" Saya nodded. "But I believe it was the only thing they could have done."

Saya smirked. Kakashi was hopeless at lying.

As Hinata and Neji stood staring at each other, Kyoko suddenly got up to watch intently at the match.

"Hah. Here comes the Byakugan obsession." Mira said tauntingly. She got a thwack for her efforts. "No, but seriously, you said this was your favourite fight of the preliminaries!"

"I like this episode." Another thwack commenced.

Mira, hurt physically and mentally, crawled over to Minamo, sitting against the wall. She was busy rubbing her arm with some cream that Hinata had given her. It wasn't really working, but at least it got rid of excess blood.

"I hope Neji wins this one…" Minamo said, her speech warm.

"He does. Remember?" Mira sweatdropped.

"Oh yeah!"

A few minutes later of stern watching by everyone, Neji, as predicted, won the match. And once again, the matchboard was under close scrutiny.

Kin vs Kyoko.

"UNGH." Both of them sighed.

* * *

**A/N: UNGH. I'm sorry. I've been really busy with school lately. **


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Happy New Year! I haven't eaten any omochi (AWESOME Japanese New Year thing) but, since I can't think of anything to draw, 13****th**** Chaptah. Woot.**

Kyoko and Kin squared up against each other. Kyoko was mainly trying to remember what this Sound-nin could do, whereas Kin very much remembered her startling encounter with the Toyama and was furiously trying to think of a strategy. She then remembered that her taijutsu skills were quite above average and decided to go with that.

After Hayate began the match, she immediately threw her senbon with bells at her opponent, who dodged swiftly and punched the ground with her force-filled fist. Waves of energy rippled on the tiled floor, dislodging almost every tile. Kin leaped towards Kyoko in a Karate stance and kicked her chest. Kyoko was off-guard as she had used up a substantial amount of chakra in that strike – however, although she was not on top form, she did carry out a weak counter-attack.

_Oh, the bells. _Kyoko slapped her forehead as she heard the bells. _…SHIT! _Kyoko wheeled around on her foot to avoid the decrepit tiles and the needles to push Kin's head to the floor. However, Kin, using some quick thinking, pulled the string holding the needles in such a way that they pierced Kyoko's arm. The genjutsu took effect almost immediately.

Kyoko, who was susceptible to genjutsu, knew what to do.

"Kai." She made the necessary hand seal, and waited for her vision to clear.

"Heh, girl, where do you think I'd be if a simple dispelling technique like yours took away my genjutsu?!" Kin chuckled, realising that the scales were tipping in her favour at last. Kyoko sighed in tiredness. Even with her unintentional nap on Sasuke's back, it was still not nearly enough sleep, and all she wanted was to go to bed. In her sleepiness, she tried to drag her memory to the medical training that she had earned from that oh-so-strict teacher at the hospital.

"_I am absolutely appalled at your weakness, Toyama." The medical-nin shouted in Kyoko's face. _

"_I am too. Don't waste your breath." Kyoko replied back. _

"_Right, you disrespectful brat, I'll teach you a technique that you had to learn back in the Great Ninja Wars. If Kai didn't work as it was a stronger genjutsu being placed on you, then…"_

"Find the strongest pressure point on your body…this would be on my temples…and jab them as strong as you can…in this case would be my force…" Kyoko started unconsciously muttering under her breath.

And, to the onlookers, it looked like she was losing her mind. The reaction provoked by the unprecedented pain in the temples jolted the brain so much that the chakra system was restarted. This would inevitably erase the effect of all up to B-rank genjutsus. Kyoko fell down sweating from the duress placed on her suddenly. Kin looked confused and angry in one expression.

Kyoko slowly got up. "Right, now for you." She immediately launched a delayed kick that sent Kin into the wall. After Kin recovered, she did a Shunshin no Jutsu to the back of Kyoko, but she noticed immediately and caught her long mane of hair and swung her around before finally releasing her, crashing against the same place on the wall.

"Winner: Kyoko Toyama." Hayate said, thrusting his hand in Kyoko's direction. Minamo, Mira and the rest of Team 7 cheered.

As soon as Kyoko reached the spectator's area, she flopped down on the floor, panting. Saya noticed immediately and felt her forehead. It was boiling and Saya whispered into Kyoko's ear. She gave an imperceptible nod.

Kyoko brought a shuddering hand towards her forehead and activated her healing chakra. The effect was instantaneous and felt like a bag of ice. After only a few seconds, she fainted.

"Oh dear. Kyoko's dead." Mira muttered under her breath. Saya didn't see the funny side as she gave her a clip around the head.

* * *

Mira was in a fervent mood of anticipation.

Standing in front of her was Kabuto. She could almost feel the stares that were being directed at her – but only one mattered. As if he knew, Orochimaru stepped back a little bit.

Mira rose her hands gracefully to summon her vines, which obediently cracked through the cement with a bit of effort and curled around her arms.

Kabuto, however, pushed up his glasses and took out a kunai.

"Start!"

Mira shot her vines in Kabuto's direction, who promptly dodged and blurred behind Mira. She, cursing her naivety, crouched and swept her arms around to attack her opponent.

However, Kabuto merely activated his chakra scalpel and sliced the offending vines neatly in half. This caused a sharp pain in Mira's legs, bringing her to the floor completely. Mira pouted. This was unprecedented and painful, which meant that she had to massacre Kabuto to do justice to herself.

She stood up shakily and made a few hand seals. This made the vines slither back into the holes made in the ground.

Her thought process begun. _I am crap at Taijutsu, Ninjutsu I didn't bother to learn very much of, and Genjutsu…let's not even begin there._

Mira was stumped. Kabuto waited and even stopped his chakra scalpels. However, by then, Mira seemed to have worked out something.

Kabuto's opponent launched herself at him and began a very basic aikido fight. Kabuto managed to dodge every blow and knocked the genin over quite a few times.

Mira finally succumbed and slammed onto the decrepit floor, groaning as she did so. Kabuto smirked – Orochimaru, for once, had overestimated this person.

He was about to signal Hayate to this defeat when he noticed that the exam proctor was studying his clipboard intently, almost on purpose. He seemed to be growing, too.

Kabuto clicked.

And wheeled as sharply behind as he could go; a seemingly newfound hole that he was in was refilling at a rapid rate, making him sink into the soil. A bunshin of Mira stood, sitting cross-legged and making a seal beside the hole. Her mouth was twitching slightly.

Saya smiled. _I get it…the Chuunin stadium for preliminaries is normally sealed rock-tight with the cement, but underneath all that is a swamp – it's still in the Forest of Death. The building is also tilted slightly forward from Kyoko's attack earlier – it also conveniently opened the 'swamp option'. Mira used her aikido knowledge to keep Kabuto in the same place while her kage-bunshin merged the swamp with the left-over cement…_she nodded.

Kabuto stopped when he was up to his neck – everyone else was laughing and even the Hokage was expressing a slight smirk. Mira got up and waved Hayate over.

"Hey, you, does this count? Incapacitation?" She pointed at Kabuto's head sticking out of the soil.

Hayate coughed, not out of his cold, but from exasperation. "No, in Clause 3 of the Chuunin Exam Conditions, it clearly states that the opponent has to suffer a knockout of some sort---"

Mira promptly kicked Kabuto in the head, causing his neck to break, his glasses to break, and his consciousness to break.

Hayate coughed again. "Winner, Mira Senju."

Applause erupted from all corners of the stadium, most prominently from Naruto, Sakura and Minamo, accompanied with various whistling. Mira twirled on the spot, flicked her head downwards, and made a 'rock on' sign in the air.

"I ROCK!" She pointed at the unconscious Kabuto. "_You _suck."

Even Kyoko had to snort at that one.

* * *

Minamo drooped as Saya patted her back. She had been pitted against Temari for the real matches, and she was absolutely distraught, even to speak.

Kyoko and Mira weren't too happy either – Kyoko had been paired with Kankurou and Mira with Shino – both of whom were quite daunting to think about.

Saya sighed and raised her eyebrows. "Well, you have a day's rest. Then we start training, okay?"

Mira interjected. "I found myself a sensei."

One of Saya's eyebrows descended. "What?"

"He approached me after the matches. He's called…Mimaru-sensei. Since two of his team dropped in the preliminaries, he's willing to take on an extra student."

The other eyebrow descended. "Right, fine, do what you want. I suppose Nyamo will be going with Kakashi?"

Nyamo grinned and replied, "Oh yeah, he's going to teach me---"

"With Sasuke?" Kyoko interrupted. Minamo's face fell dramatically.

It was going to be a long month.

**A/N: OH MY GOD. THIS TOOK **_**SO**_** LONG. I hate Mira's fight with all my soul. Wait, that's a bit deep. Never mind. I will update this. I WILL! **


	14. PLEASE READ THIS

**THIS IS A VERY URGENT MESSAGE TO ALL THE DEVOTED READERS OUT THERE, HOWEVER FEW OF YOU THERE MAY BE**

**Bad news: Because of dwindling readers and increasingly small amounts of free time, I have decided to put this story on semi-permanent hiatus. I'm sorry to the people out there who actually read this, but it is necessary. **

**Good news: I am **_**actually**_** working on this, and when the first bit is finished, I will take the old version off and submit the new revamped version and update the chapters on a weekly and regular basis.**

**Thanks again,**

**NatSama**


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